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Jakartans cautiously optimistic about Omicron surge
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A health worker performs a swab antigen test on a child in Krukut subdistrict, West Jakarta, on Jan. 10. (Antara/Muhammad Adimaja )
Amid a surge in Omicron cases in the capital, Jakartans are staying alert while also hoping for an end to the pandemic soon.
Since Indonesia detected its first Omicron case on Dec. 15, 2021, the highly contagious variant has driven a wave of infections in the capital – from around 50 cases a day in the following week to more than 10,000 cases a day last week.
But with West Java overtaking Jakarta to be the biggest contributor to the daily figure on Tuesday – at 14,000 cases compared to Jakarta’s 9,000 cases – experts now speculate that Jakarta's Omicron spike is now on the decline.
Despite this, 47-year-old South Jakarta resident Andari Karina Anom continues to do her best to keep herself and her loved ones safe from the virus.
For the past two months, she has refrained from visiting her mother and her extended family, who live in Depok in West Java, just on the outskirts of Jakarta, after some of her neighbors tested positive for COVID-19.
While this might have become a familiar feeling for Jakartans, Andari said she believed the public was not as afraid as it was when the virus was first discovered in the country in March 2020 because people were now better prepared and well-informed about the virus.
“Back in 2020, if just one person in my neighborhood [tested] positive, I wouldn't dare go out of my house," she said on Monday. "But this time around, I feel like we all know what to do. People are now more well-informed about how to deal with their own COVID-19 situations."
