Riau Islands Governor Urges Residents to be Wary of Omicron XBB

TEMPO.CO, Riau Islands - Governor of Riau Islands Ansar Ahmad has urged residents to be wary of the Omicron XBB subvariant of COVID-19 and continue to implement the health protocol to avoid the virus infection.

According to the governor, residents' compliance toward the health protocol has declined as most of them did not wear masks in public places.

"If there are 10 people in a single room, only three to five people that wear a mask at most," Ahmad who concurrently Head of the Riau Islands COVID-19 Handling Task Force stated here on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Spokeperson of the Riau Islands COVID-19 Handling Task Force Tjetjep Yudiana said that the Omicron XBB subvariant may have entered Riau Islands' territory.

"If we analyze the COVID-19 rapid infection, this (may occur because of) the Omicron XBB," he explained.

Wearing a mask is one of the efforts to prevent the COVID-19 coronavirus infection, he informed.

To this end, he reminded residents to wear a mask while carrying out activities in public places to protect themselves and their families from COVID-19 attack.

"Based on the experience of COVID-19 patients, all of us have already learned how painful it is to be infected with COVID-19," he remarked.

"When we are suffering, we isolate ourselves to prevent infecting the virus to others. I think that everyone do not want to get infected with COVID-19," he continued.

Within the last two weeks, COVID-19 active cases in Riau Islands increased from 36 to 101. Batam has 73 cases, Tanjungpinang has five cases, Bintan has 14 cases, and Karimun has nine cases.

"We need to be wary of Omicron XBB, a COVID-19 subvariant. This virus infects more easily even though it is not too dangerous," he noted.

ANTARA

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News