Now that Indonesia produces its own vaccines, the government is planning to stop importing vaccines from other countries and rely on local productions to meet Indonesia's vaccine…
He also added that the dominant strain of Omicron is surely not the last variant to emerge.
Preliminary studies suggest that the XBB sublineage has a higher immune evasion ability than the dominant Omicron subvariant.
According to government statistics, more than 300 patients were under critical care from Covid-19 daily in the last seven-day period.
China is the last major economy still trying to stamp out Covid-19 within its borders, through snap lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions.
Patients will be allowed only two pre-designated visitors, and only one of them can be at the bedside at any one time.
XBB is another Omicron sub-variant and has been detected in countries such as Australia,, India, and Japan since August 2022.
The large majority of patients continue to report mild symptoms such as sore throat or slight fever.
The country on Oct 10 reported 2,106 cases, the highest number since August, prompting the government to warn against "war weariness".
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said the authorities are monitoring whether the nation is experiencing another big wave of Covid-19 cases by looking at reinfection rates.