JAKARTA (XINHUS) – Indonesia has been monitoring the increase in COVID-19 cases after this year’s Aidilfitri holiday, when a massive exodus occurred.
During the holiday, urban people leave big cities where they work to return to their hometowns, celebrating with families.
Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said, “For the next 20 to 25 days, we’ll see if there is an increase.”
The Indonesian government has been monitoring the possibility of the emergence of new sub-variants, Omicron BA.4 and BA.5, which has been detected in South Africa.
Head of the COVID-19 task force of the Indonesia Medical Association Zubairi Djoerban estimated that considering the current trend, an increase in new cases will occur but not in a sharp way.
Based on the experience of previous holiday seasons, Djoerban said, case monitoring must be carried out for up to three months to ensure that the transmission really slows down.
The government is also evaluating the development of transmission in the eight largest homecoming destination provinces, namely Central Java, West Java, East Java, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Lampung, North Sumatra and West Sumatra.
