TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia is seeing an increasing rate of Covid-19 infections lately. According to the Covid-19 Task Force, there were more than a thousand new cases on Tuesday, April 18. The number of active cases has also reached more than 10,000.

President Joko Widodo or Jokowi asked the public not to panic about the situation.

"Currently the spread of Covid is starting to increase somewhat, but we don't need to overreact to it," Jokowi said in a press statement at the Bogor Presidential Palace, which was broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube channel, Wednesday, April 19.

This increasing number of cases comes with the emergence of a new subvariant, the XBB 1.16, known as Arcturus.

On Monday, the Health Ministry's spokesman Mohammad Syahril announced five new cases of the Arcturus subvariant, bringing the total to seven.

The Arcturus sub-variant status is still 'under monitoring' and not categorized as a variant of concern. According to Syahril, the existence of a new sub-variant usually results in an increase in cases in other countries. Of the 29 countries, there are a number of countries that have reported the most cases, including India, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Australia.

Jokowi reminded the public about the importance of vaccination, which he calls one step in dealing with the trend of the spread of Covid-19 which is increasing again ahead of Eid.

"For this reason, I remind you again of the importance of vaccination, both the first and second vaccinations, as well as the first and second boosters. Don't feel safe and forget to get fully vaccinated as recommended by the government," Jokowi said.

FAJAR PEBRIANTO | MUTIA YUANTISYA

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