JAKARTA: Indonesian officials on Monday urged the public to hold off from travelling abroad after a surge in cases of the omicron variant of COVID-19 were traced back to individuals coming from overseas.
The number of omicron cases in the Southeast Asian country has so far reached 414, comprising mostly of Indonesian nationals and those who had received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the latest data from the Indonesian Ministry of Health.
Speaking during a weekly virtual press conference, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan, who has been overseeing the Indonesian COVID-19 response, said: “If it’s possible, please do not travel abroad for the next two to three weeks. Let the wave subside over there, there’s no need to come here and bring the disease.”
Indonesian Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that, so far, omicron in the archipelago nation appeared to be more transmissible but less severe and called on the population to maintain health and safety protocols.
“We will face this wave from the omicron variant. There is no need to panic as we have prepared ourselves well, and experience showed us that while spikes happen quickly, this omicron wave also goes down pretty fast,” he added.
