New COVID-19 Variant Detected, Indonesia's Positivity Rate Rises Again

Indonesia's COVID-19 cases have increased recently following the emergence of new coronavirus variants. Consequently, the positivity rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Indonesia has also risen.

According to the COVID-19 Task Force report, the national weekly COVID-19 positivity rate in the first week of February 2023 was 1.54%. This is a 0.21-point increase compared to the previous week's 1.33%.

However, observing the trend of the national weekly COVID-19 positivity rate since mid-November 2022, the figures had been steadily declining. It even reached its lowest point in the fifth week of January 2023, as shown in the graph.

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin stated that the recent rise in domestic COVID-19 cases is due to new coronavirus variants. The latest variant detected in Indonesia is Kraken, or XBB.1.5.

He added that the increase in COVID-19 cases in Indonesia is not due to increased public mobility following the government's easing of restrictions.

"Based on the scientific evidence we've observed, the increase in cases is due to new variants. Not because of mobility or events, but always because of new variants, as we saw with the Delta variant, which caused a rise in cases in Indonesia," Budi said, as quoted by Republika on Wednesday (8/2/2023).

The same occurred when the Omicron variant entered Indonesia, resulting in a rise in COVID-19 cases. Nevertheless, Budi stated that the government has several strategies to prevent the spread of new variants in Indonesia.

"Indonesia is prepared. One of the main pandemic handling strategies is ensuring we have the ability to identify new variants. We used to use genome sequencing technology, and we only had 8 devices; now we have 50," Budi said.

With this genome sequencing technology, Indonesia can more quickly identify new COVID-19 variants.

Like a war, Budi likened the technology to monitoring the enemy. "With this mechanism, one of the main pandemic handling strategies is that the government knows the type of enemy, who they are, and where they are. The government can then provide an appropriate response," Budi said.