Jakarta (ANTARA) - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has confirmed that eight cases of the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants of COVID-19 have been recorded in Indonesia as of Monday.
"There are already 8 cases in Indonesia; 3 of them are imported cases," he informed at a press conference held at the President's Office here on Monday.
The three imported cases were from Mauritius, the US, and Brazil, and were detected in delegates attending the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR) event in Bali from May 23–28, 2022, Sadikin informed.
Meanwhile, the other five cases involved local transmission. Four of the cases were detected in Jakarta, while one case was detected in Bali. The patient in Bali is a health worker who came from Jakarta.
"Indeed, local transmission has occurred in Jakarta," the minister said.
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Of the eight people who have contracted the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, only one person has experienced moderate symptoms and has not received the booster vaccination against COVID-19, he added.
The other seven patients have received the booster shot and experienced mild to no symptoms at all, he said.
Therefore, the government is encouraging people to get fully vaccinated and get the booster dose without delay as well as continue complying with the health protocols, Sadikin added.
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He further noted that several countries have experienced an uptick in COVID-19 cases caused by the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.
Based on his observations regarding the development of similar cases in the world, he said that the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants have caused an increase in cases, but the peak of the increase in cases, hospitalization rates, and mortality rates has been much lower compared to the previous Omicron subvariant.
The first case of COVID-19 in Indonesia was confirmed in March 2020. According to data from the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, as of June 13, the nation has recorded 6,061,079 COVID-19 cases, 5,889,501 recoveries, and 156,652 deaths.
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