PORTALJABAR, DISTRICT. GARUT - The Garut Regency Health Service (Dinkes) reminds its residents to remain vigilant in facing a spike in COVID-19 cases, in line with the spread of the Eris and EG.5 variants, which are derivatives of the omicron variant.

Head of the Disease Prevention and Control Division, Asep Surachman, said that COVID-19 cases in several countries, including Singapore, have increased significantly in the last two weeks, doubling to 26 thousand cases.

"Then in several other countries, Malaysia is the same, in Indonesia yesterday we found around 267 per week, but yesterday we found 130," he said, at the Garut Health Office, Thursday (7/12/2023).

Asep explained that in Garut Regency alone in the last week one case of COVID-19 was found, but this case was a report from the Port Health Office at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, where one of the residents was a resident who had performed the Umrah pilgrimage.

"And there are also some that we suspect, but at this time we have not reported them because in Garut itself we are still carrying out activities in the form of testing and tracing, but until now we have not shown any increase (COVID-19) in Garut Regency itself "But there is vigilance," he said.

Asep emphasized the importance of vigilance, especially for residents with comorbid diseases or incomplete COVID-19 vaccination status. He referred to WHO's appeal to revoke the pandemic status to endemic on May 5 2023 and President Joko Widodo's statement on June 23 2023.

"In the early days when the pandemic was lifted from endemic, we were allowed not to wear masks in public places, unless the person was sick, for example if someone had a cold and cough, they were required to wear a mask to avoid infecting other people," he said.

Even though some restrictions have been lifted, Asep reminded people, especially those experiencing cough and cold symptoms, to immediately rest and check themselves at a health facility. Current conditions demand cooperation to keep the pandemic situation under control in Garut Regency.

"Be especially careful with those who have comorbid diseases, comorbidities, and whose COVID immunization or vaccination status is incomplete because this creates a risk factor for being infected and causes a fatality rate," he said. (Diskominfo Garut/UPI)