"It does need broad coordination on how it (can be) decided holistically," Harbuwono remarked after attending the handover agenda of Presidential Decree No. 65/P of 2022 on dismissal and appointment of substitutes for the state-owned Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) Supervisory Board members here on Monday.
The deputy health minister pointed to a slight increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia, including in Jakarta.
According to Harbuwono, the recent case spike was recorded along with the more massive case tracking and testing in the community.
Harbuwono said COVID-19 cases found in the community were predominately Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 that caused mild symptoms and were less likely to increase the bed occupancy rate (BOR), so people should not harbor concerns.
"The symptoms of (Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5) are mild, and the bed occupancy rate is also low. Not too much to worry as compared to the Delta cases," he said.
The daily trend of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia began to plummet on Saturday (July 16), with the number of confirmed COVID-19 patients reaching 4,329.
On Sunday (July 17), the number of confirmed positive patients fell to 3,540, while on July 18, it dropped to 3,393 confirmed positive cases.
While drawing attention to the World Health Organization (WHO) standard, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin noted that the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Indonesia was still relatively better than that in other countries.
"The WHO standard is at the level of 7,800 cases per day. Hence, as long as it is below that, the WHO standard (for Indonesia) is still at level 1," he noted.
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Translator: Andi F, Kenzu T
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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