Indonesia’s health ministry issues warning over COVID-19 surge in Asia

Indonesia’s government has urged healthcare facilities to step up COVID-19 surveillance, as a more transmissible omicron subvariant drives a surge in cases across Asia.

Parts of Asia have been reporting a new wave of infections since last month, especially Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.

The new spread of the coronavirus that brought the world to a standstill a few years ago has been linked to JN.1, a highly transmissible variant of the omicron strain of COVID-19.

It emerged in late 2023 and spread globally through early 2024, becoming one of the dominant variants in many countries.

Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin met with President Prabowo Subianto on Tuesday to report on the country’s COVID-19 situation.

“Cases are indeed increasing, but the rise is caused by variants that are relatively less deadly,” Sadikin told reporters after the meeting.

His statement comes after Indonesia’s Health Ministry issued a circular last week instructing regional agencies, hospitals, community centers and other medical service facilities across the country to monitor case trends and report unusual conditions.

Health quarantine facilities are also instructed to “step up surveillance on people, transportation and items coming from abroad, especially those from countries that are reporting surges in COVID-19 cases,” the circular stated.

Indonesia has confirmed 72 COVID-19 cases and reported no deaths in 2025, the latest data from the Health Ministry showed. The caseload was at seven from last week alone, with the positive rate declining to 2.05 percent from a peak of 3.62 percent the previous week.

Indonesia was among the hardest-hit countries in Asia during the COVID-19 pandemic. With a cumulative death toll of around 162,000, it has the second-highest number in the region, after 533,000 recorded in India.