Omicron Only Twice as Harmful as Flu: Luhut Pandjaitan

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan in a press conference on Monday acknowledged the rapid speed of transmission of the Omicron variant, but claimed it caused sufferers to experience milder symptoms and was less-deadly compared to the Delta variant. 

The Minister, who is also responsible for the Java-Bali public activity restrictions (PPKM), cited a study suggesting the COVID-19 variant that had spread this year was just twice as deadly as the flu, which was less deadlier compared to COVID-19 in early 2020 that was estimated to be 13 times deadlier than the common flu.

“This Omicron is only twice as harmful as the flu,” he said on February 14. 

He mentioned the fact that Omicron’s peak is currently still below the Delta outbreak last year, which is also the case in terms of the hospitalization and mortality rates. 

“However, this does not reduce our alert level but this data showed us that we cannot treat Omicron similar to last year’s Delta,” Luhut Pandjaitan added. 

The Indonesian Health Ministry data from January 21-February 8 revealed 487 people hospitalized for COVID-19 had died, with additional 111 daily cases on Sunday. Health Ministry spokesperson for coronavirus vaccination Siti Nadia Tarmizi in a statement on Monday said most of the death cases are were either from people who had not been vaccinated or with comorbidities.

“The Health Ministry’s data from January 21 up to February 8, 2022, showed that of 487 patients who died, 66 percent of them did not receive complete dose vaccinations,” said Nadia in a statement on February 14. 

Read: Omicron Deaths Related to Vaccination Status: Health Ministry

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