“COVID-19 can easily mutate, and my concerns are with two variants, Alpha and Delta,” I Gusti Ngurah Mahardika of Udayana University’s School of Veterinary Medicine in Bali told a public discussion held by the National Economic and COVID-19 Recovery Committee (KPCPEN) on Tuesday.

Besides the mutations, he went on, the biggest source for the soaring number were the crowds.

“We have studied the current COVID-19 vaccines and they are still effective against the virus variants, mostly Alpha and Delta,” the German-trained virologist said.

Mahardika, who is also with the COVID-19 task force, supported the current vaccination drives organized by the government, saying that with 40 to 50 percent coverage, European countries had the audacity to organize the 2020 Euro Championship.

Kusnandi Rusmil, head of the COVID-19 research and clinical test team from Padjajaran University, emphasized that COVID-19 was lethal.

“COVID-19 is truly dangerous. It can be fatal. That is why we should really avoid it,” Kusnandi said.

He strongly urged people to get vaccinated and uphold strict health protocols during their daily activities. The current vaccines, he went on, had been highly effective in providing protection.

Even if someone gets infected, he added, if they had completed the two-jab vaccination, it could decrease the chances of them experiencing painful symptoms and even death. He added that people should not worry about the vaccines, but they should worry about the virus instead.

“We need people to realize that all of the suffering because of COVID-19 is real. We have to provide facts on the deaths and suffering caused by this virus so people will wake up and start paying more attention to obeying health protocols and getting themselves vaccinated.”

Hermawan Saputra, another expert from the Indonesian Public Health Expert Association, said the current situation should alarm every individual and communities, and remind them to be more disciplined in implementing health protocols, be it at the office, at home, shopping malls and down to every corner of villages in remote areas.

“The government should be able to utilize all resources down to villages to increase COVID-19 alertness and improve the people’s behavior toward the virus,” Hermawan said.

He also suggested that communities reactivate gotong royong (mutual cooperation) and build isolation rooms.

“We can ease the burden of our hospitals, especially on Java Island, by initiating this kind of movement.”

Commenting on the latest rise in infections, Hermawan said the best way to avoid further transmission was to avoid crowd.

As of Thursday, the positivity rate in Indonesia has reached 44.37 percent, meaning that from 100 people tested, 44 people were positive with COVID-19. The figure is far above the positivity rate limit regulated by the World Health Organization, which is below 5 percent.

The movement of people during the Idul Fitri holiday season, with more than 1.2 million people leaving Jakarta, is suspected to be the main source of crowding, which finally resulted in the massive increase in new COVID-19 infections. Many regions across Java Island have turned into red zones as a result.

More than 2 million people in Indonesia have been infected with the virus, with 1.8 million recoveries. More than 55,000 people have died of COVID-19.

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