VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia increased significantly within the last few days, Head of State-owned Healthcare and Social Security Agency's (BPJS Kesehatan's) Supervisory Board Acmad Yurianto stated.

"Recently, this COVID-19 pandemic could not be considered as not dangerous," Yurianto noted while delivering his statement during a virtual unveiling event on Zoom on Wednesday.

"Within the last several days, on January 23-25, 2022, there was an extraordinary surge in terms of the number of cases," he elaborated.

Head of the State-owned Healthcare and Social Security Agency's (BPJS Kesehatan's) Supervisory Board Acmad Yurianto during a virtual unveiling event on Zoom on Wednesday (January 26, 2022). (ANTARA PHOTO/Andi Firdaus/FR) - 

The daily addition of cases on January 22-25, 2022, started from 3,205 patients, 2,925 patients, 2,927 patients, and reached up to 8,878 patients.

This figure should be an eye-opener that the threat of COVID-19 infection lurks among the people, he remarked.

If observed further, of the 1,766 Omicron cases identified domestically, almost half of them were local transmissions, he highlighted.

"This means they do not come from international travel," he explained.

Yurianto encouraged the public to comply with health protocols set by the government in order to prevent infection.

Everyone should have a strong commitment to upholding health protocols by wearing a mask, avoiding crowding, and washing their hands (3M), he noted.

In addition, travelling, specifically international travel, should be restricted only for important or urgent activities.

It is also important for people to get vaccinated.

"Remember, this virus never went to school. It never picks which one it will infect. Let us hope that this could become the reference for us to comply with the health protocols," Yurianto remarked.

According to data provided by the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, as of January 24, 2022, at least 4,289,305 people had tested positive for COVID-19 in the country.

Meanwhile, 4,124,211 people had recovered and 144,227 people had succumbed to the disease//ANT