VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Ministry of Health has asked the community to continue to follow the health protocols while performing their activities and not to panic amid the detection of a new variant of COVID-19, XBB, in Indonesia.

XBB spread can be categorized as rife because so far, there are 26 countries that have reported XBB infections, ministry spokesperson Mohammad Syahril said at an online event on Monday.

For example, in Singapore, the number of cases reported has reached 8 thousand per day, he added.

Even though based on monitoring, its transmission has been found to be faster, the XBB variant is not more deadly than the Omicron variant, he informed. From the 26 countries that have reported XBB infections, no deaths have been reported so far.

Based on the experience from the two years of the pandemic, the community must have understood by now that the SARS-CoV-2 virus has continued to mutate to live, he added.

To this end, he stressed that following the health protocols and vaccinations are part of the strategy to put an end to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, government spokesperson for COVID-19, Reisa Broto Asmoro, said that with the emergence of the XBB variant in Indonesia, the coverage of vaccinations, especially booster vaccinations, must be improved.

Through vaccinations, the severity of the infection can be reduced, she added.

Earlier on Friday (October 21, 2022), Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that the XBB variant had been detected in Indonesia, and the government was monitoring the development of the case.

The government has also strengthened the public activity restrictions (PPKM) to curb COVID-19 cases. He further noted that the country is not yet safe from the pandemic.

The first case of COVID-19 in Indonesia was confirmed in March 2020. According to data from the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, as of October 24, 2022, the nation has recorded 6,472,664 COVID-19 cases, 6,295,525 recoveries, and 158,454 deaths. (Antaranews)