There are already signs and confidence among many countries to enter the endemic phaseJakarta (ANTARA) - Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency at the Ministry of Finance Febrio Kacaribu stated that several countries in the world are currently transitioning from the pandemic to the COVID-19 endemic phase.
"There are already signs and confidence among many countries to enter the endemic phase," Kacaribu stated at the Indonesia Macroeconomic Updates 2022 event here on Monday.
The agency head cited as an example that several countries in Europe no longer required their people to wear masks during outdoor activities and even Singapore had lifted the outdoor mask mandate.
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Kacaribu noted that the number of cases of COVID-19 in Europe was very high, with an average of 30 percent of the population having been exposed to COVID-19. However, the number of Omicron cases is under greater control than the other variants.
Globally, the number of COVID-19 cases had reached 488.22 million, while the death toll had reached 6.17 million, with the lowest count of fatalities recorded in March 2022.
He noted that in Indonesia, the pandemic handling was relatively good, with the number of cases that had been under control, so the government had started to work towards transitioning from the pandemic to endemic phase.
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Not only transitioning to the endemic phase, but the Indonesian government also continues to ensure the acceleration of vaccinations for the first, second, and booster doses.
The first vaccine dose has, so far, been administered to 70 percent of the population; the second dose has been offered to 60 percent of the population; while the booster dose has been received by at least 23 million citizens, or 8.5 percent of the population.
"Vaccination is also a strong defense for us to enter the endemic phase," he remarked.
The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Indonesia in March 2020. According to data from the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, as of April 3, 2022, Indonesia has recorded a total of 6,019,981 COVID-19 cases, 5,768,703 recoveries, and 155,288 deaths.
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Translator: Astrid Faidlatul, Raka Adji
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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