TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin in a press conference on Sunday predicts the spread of the Omicron Cocid-19 variant in the current stage is inevitable and will reach its peak in the middle of February or March of 2022.

“People must prepare for a rapid spike in cases of the Omicron variant in Indonesia between 35-65 days since it entered Indonesia,” said the Health Minister on January 16.

Despite this urgent reminder, the Minister asked people to avert from panicking as an Omicron onset will tend to be less lethal and will not burden the national healthcare system unlike last year’s Delta variant outbreak.

“This is evident in other countries where hospitalization is between 30-40 percent from Delta variant hospitalization,” said Gunadi. “Even though the number of cases will be larger and with faster transmission rate, the hospitalization will be lower.”

This leads to his public call for members of the public “To every member of society, no need to panic if cases spike. Remain alert and we will closely monitor the hospitalization numbers.”

As of January 15, confirmed cases of Omicron had reached 748 cases with more than 500 people hospitalized in total and 300 who have been released from healthcare facilities. “Out of three people treated with oxygen, two of them have been sent home.”

Read: East Java's Malang Records 3 Omicron Cases

DEWI NURITA