Jakarta (Indonesia), June 14: The Indonesian government has predicted that peak cases of COVID-19 Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 in the country will take place in July, a month after the first case was detected, based on its experience in dealing with previous waves of transmission, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said Monday.
"Supposedly in the second or third week of July we will see the peak of BA.4 and BA.5 cases," Sadikin said at a press conference.
The southeast Asian country has confirmed eight patients with these subvariants, including three imported cases. The other five were local transmissions in Bali and Jakarta.
The government is currently monitoring other patients with these possible subvariants in Jakarta, West Java, Banten, and Bali.
The subvariants have increased COVID-19 cases in some countries, but the hospitalizations and deaths are much lower than the initial subvariant of Omicron, Sadikin added.
Source: Xinhua