Covid-19 Resurgence: Prabowo Summons Health Ministry
Reporter
June 3, 2025 | 10:58 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Prabowo Subianto called in Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin to the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. The minister was summoned to discuss the latest developments in the Covid-19 situation.
"It's about Covid-19," Budi said at the Palace after the meeting.
Budi said that Indonesia's current number of Covid-19 cases is relatively low, smaller compared to the global trend.
"Based on our observation, the case hike in Indonesia is very low—still within the tens according to the 'odometer' tracker. And those are detected only in several surveillance centers that we are monitoring," he said.
The minister said that the increasing rate of infections happening overseas are the result of the Omicron subvariant. And subvariants, he said, are a common occurrence. "So I don't think we should worry."
The Health Ministry has issued a circular advising caution amid rising infections in several Asian countries, including Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore.
"However, transmission remains relatively low, and the death rate is also low," the ministry wrote in the circular, signed by Director General of Disease Control Murti Utami.
The circular, registered as SR.03.01/C/1422/2025 and issued on Friday, May 23, 2025, states that the dominant Covid-19 variants spreading in Thailand are XEC and JN.1; in Singapore, LF.7 and NB.1.8 (a derivative of JN.1); in Hong Kong, JN.1; and in Malaysia, XEC (also a JN.1 derivative).
Indonesia's Covid-19 situation entering the 20th week shows a downward trend in weekly confirmed cases, from 28 cases in the 19th week to three cases in the 20th week, with a positivity rate of 0.59 percent. The dominant variant circulating is MB.1.1.
"The circular aims to increase awareness of Covid-19 and other potential outbreaks among health departments, quarantine offices, public health laboratories, healthcare facilities, and relevant stakeholders," the document states.
In the circular, the Health Ministry requests all healthcare facilities to reintroduce health protocols to the public, as was done during the Covid-19 pandemic starting in 2020. Facilities are also expected to conduct mapping and detection efforts according to applicable regulations.
M Faiz Zaki contributed to this article
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