Indonesians reminded to avoid outdoor activities amid rising COVID-19 cases

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has urged local people to limit outdoor activities, and work from home in the context of rising COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant transmission in the country.

Checking the body temperature for people in Indonesia (Photo: https://en.tempo.co/)
Checking the body temperature for people in Indonesia (Photo: https://en.tempo.co/)

In a statement broadcasted on the Presidential Secretariat Youtube channel on January 18, Widodo said that if there are no urgent matters it is better to reduce activities in the crowd.

He asked people to refrain from traveling abroad, wear masks, maintain distance and wash hands, as well as immediately get a booster shot against COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Ministry of Health reported that the Southeast Asian nation confirmed more 3,245 COVID-19 cases and 18 deaths on January 18, lifting the total number of infections and fatalities to 2,813,934 and 31,808, respectively.

According to Director-General of the ministry Tan Sri Noor Hisham Abdullah, another 186 Omicron cases were detected between January 14 -18, bringing the cumulative number of Omicron infections to 439.

Malaysia has actively implemented vaccination of booster shots in parallel with preparation for COVID-19 injection for children aged between 5-11.

As of January 17, a total of 9,609,454 individuals (41 percent) of the adult population in the country received the COVID-19 booster doses. Meanwhile, 2,775,059 people (88.2 percent) aged 12 – 17 completed their vaccination.