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COVID-19 cases decline despite discovery of new subvariant ‘Kraken’
Indonesia continues to see a declining number of COVID-19 cases in the past few weeks despite the absence of the pandemic curbs and the recent discovery of new Omicron subvariant “Kraken” that have caused case surges abroad, including in the United States and the United Kingdom.
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A woman (left) reacts while receiving a Pfizer booster vaccine for the COVID-19 in Jakarta, on March 29, 2022. (AFP/Adek Berry)
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ndonesia continues to see a declining number of COVID-19 cases in the past few weeks despite the absence of pandemic curbs and the recent discovery of new Omicron subvariant “Kraken” that have caused case surges abroad, including in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The Health Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Syahril said that the government had recorded 133 daily new cases as of Sunday, a 14.9-percent decline compared to the previous week.
"Some people wonder whether the government made the right decision when it revoked the PPKM [public activity restrictions] on Dec. 30 last year, but thank God, two months after all curbs had been lifted, the situation remains under control," Syahril said in a press conference on Monday.
He said that aside from daily cases, other pandemic indicators also continued to improve. Daily deaths have decreased by 31.2 percent compared to last week, with only two fatalities recorded on Sunday.
Positivity rate also stood at 1.2 percent while national bed-occupancy rate stood at 1.4 percent, indicating that virus transmission and patients who need hospital care remain relatively low.
Syahril also said the new XBB.1.5 subvariant, widely and informally dubbed as Kraken, had not caused an uptick in COVID-19 cases nationwide after the country reported its first cases late last month.
"We have found six cases of the Kraken subvariant so far, with two showing mild symptoms and the rest asymptomatic," he said.
