Covid-19 Transmission Under Control in Early December: Indonesia's Health Minister

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Covid-19 transmission in Indonesia has remained under control in early December ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said.

“Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God), the situation of Covid-19 spread is under control,” Budi said after attending the Germas Award 2022 at the office of the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture here on Tuesday, Dec. 6.

He further said that following monitoring activities, the transmission peaked; thus, the number of cases is expected to decline. According to the Health Ministry, the number of cases from Dec. 1 to Dec. 5 reached 4,977 cases, 4,179 cases, 3,655 cases, 2,548 cases, and 2,234 cases, respectively.

President Joko Widodo had scheduled a cabinet meeting to discuss the trend of Covid-19 transmission as well as government policies to anticipate any potential increase in virus transmission during the Christmas and New Year holidays, Budi said.

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Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy reiterated that the Covid-19 situation in the country is currently not too worrying.

Meanwhile, Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian has extended the enforcement of public activity restrictions (PPKM) to curb covid-19 spread in the country.

Tito has issued two instructions comprising Instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs No. 50/2022 on the extension of PPKM in the Java and Bali areas and the Instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs No. 51/2022 on the extension of PPKM outside Java and Bali. These two instructions take effect from Dec. 6, 2022, to Jan. 9, 2023.

Also read: Indonesia Reports over 6,600 Daily Covid-19 Cases

The two instructions have been issued to anticipate any potential increase in coronavirus transmission during the Christmas and New Year holidays due to an increase in people’s mobility.

Based on the instructions, all districts and cities in Indonesia are implementing the Covid-19 Level 1 restrictions.

Indonesia confirmed the first two cases of Covid-19 in March 2020. Since then, as of Dec. 5, the nation has recorded 6,682,437 Covid-19 cases, 6,474,271 recoveries, and 160,026 deaths.

Source: State News Antara