Jakarta (ANTARA) - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, emphasized that the government will continue to implement face-to-face learning at schools despite a continued increase in the number of Omicron cases.

In an online press statement on the results of a limited meeting for the evaluation of Public Activity Restrictions (PPKM) here, on Monday, the minister noted no extraordinary events so far in the spread of the Omicron variant.

"Face-to-face learning is still being conducted. If there are extraordinary events (regarding the Omicron spread), then a separate decision will be taken. Hence, we have no plan to halt face-to-face learning," Pandjaitan remarked.

He assessed that despite the country having recorded increasing daily cases of COVID-19 in the past week, the surge is deemed to be under control since the number of daily cases is still 90 percent lower as compared to the peak of the Delta variant earlier.

The minister noted that since the first case of Omicron was detected in Indonesia, there were no signs of an exponential increase in cases akin to what was observed in other countries.

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The bed occupancy rate (BOR) in Java and Bali islands is also still at a better rate than during the early stage of the Deta variant spike.

Likewise, the mortality rate in Java and Bali islands for the last 14 days is also still at a relatively low rate.

Meanwhile, the number of cases due to international travelers is currently below 10 percent of the total number of cases nationally. Hence, currently, the local transmission is more dominating as compared to before.

"However, the government remains alert, especially since the effective reproduction number (Rt) is starting to increase. Currently, the Rt in Java has reached 1, while in Bali, it has surpassed 1," he remarked.

The government has also continued to monitor the positivity rate. Despite, in general, the combined positivity rate of PCR and rapid antigen tests still being below the WHO standard of five percent, the positivity rate of PCR tests has increased to nine percent.


Related news: Two schools in West Jakarta suspend face-to-face learning

Translator: Ade Irma, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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