Indonesia's Omicron Peak Could Be 6 Times More than Delta

TheIndonesia.id - Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the peak of COVID-19 cases of the Omicron variant could be 3-6 times higher than the Delta variant.

"Contagion is very high and Indonesia will experience this. So if our (Delta's) peak was 57,000 per day, we must be prepared, be careful, and alert, no need to be surprised. In other countries it can be three to six times than the peak of Delta," said Minister of Health Sadikin in an online press conference attended in Jakarta, Monday, January 31, 2022.

He said the United States cases had reached 800,000 per day due to Omicron compared to Delta which reached 250,000 per day. In France, it reaches 360,000 per day, more than the Delta's 60,000 per day.

"Countries that are similar to ours, Brazil is still rising at around 190,000 cases per day compared to the peak of Delta 80,000 per day, India is now 310,000 per day compared to Delta 380,000 per day, Japan is 65,000 per day while Delta is 25,000 cases per day," he said.

Sadikin estimates that the peak of COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant will occur at the end of February 2022. "We still don't know how many peaks will occur in Indonesia, which we estimate one will occur at the end of February. But we have already said that in other countries it could be three to six times compared to the peak in Delta," he said.

Minister of Health asked the public to limit mobility and always be vigilant in order to avoid exposure to COVID-19. "My message is to stay alert, be careful, limit mobility, don't be too aggressive, limit moving everywhere. If you don't need to gather or move at all, we will reduce it because later the impact will be easily infected and infect other people," said Sadikin.