Indonesia's Health Ministry Reports Seasonal Influenza Rise, Mostly H1N1 Cases
Reporter
October 27, 2025 | 06:32 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin confirmed a recent uptick in influenza cases across Indonesia but said the increase is part of a normal seasonal pattern.
“Yes, flu cases have indeed risen during these months,” Budi said at the Health Ministry office in South Jakarta on Monday, October 27, 2025. “But the total number of patients this year remains lower than last year. You can check the data yourselves on surkakes.kemkes.go.id. It’s updated weekly.”
According to ministry data, 24 out of 95 specimens tested positive for influenza during the 42nd week of 2025, or about 25 percent. This was lower than the previous week, when 42 percent of 100 samples tested positive. The ministry also noted that around 30 percent of flu cases were detected among people of productive age.
Budi said Indonesia’s disease surveillance system has improved significantly since the Covid-19 pandemic, with reporting now “as transparent and reliable as in developed countries.”
“The quality of our reports used to be poor. Now, it’s comparable to the standards in the UK or South Africa,” he said, pointing to the ministry’s updated flu data dashboard.
Genomic sequencing, he explained, shows that most recent flu cases were caused by the H1N1 strain, followed by H3.
“We can identify the type precisely because we now use genome sequencing,” Budi said.
The public, he added, can freely access weekly infectious disease reports, including influenza trends, on the Health Ministry’s official website.
“It’s open access, the data are good, and the graphs are clear,” he said.
The ministry’s influenza surveillance report now features a visual dashboard showing weekly trends and regional case distribution.
The upgrade is part of the post-pandemic Surveillance and Early Warning System, developed between 2020 and 2023 to strengthen early detection of infectious diseases.
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