7 Facts About the Global Covid-19 Case Surge

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin reported the latest increase in Covid-19 cases to President Prabowo Subianto at the Jakarta Presidential Palace on Wednesday, June 3, 2025.

In the meeting, Budi Gunadi reported on the developments of several national health issues, such as the Covid-19 situation and free health check programs. Budi confirmed the increase in Covid-19 cases. However, he did not mention the specific numbers and areas where the Covid-19 cases had increased. Budi urged the public not to panic.

"However, these variants are relatively non-lethal. Therefore, there is no need for excessive concern that would cause the public to panic," said Budi at the Jakarta Presidential Palace complex, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025.

The Honorary Board Chairperson of the Indonesian Pulmonologists Association (PDPI), Tjandra Yoga Aditama, said that reports of increasing Covid-19 cases emerged after the end of May 2025. Covid-19 was included in the World Health Organization's (WHO) Disease Outbreak News (DONs), which depicts the global situation.

Tjandra revealed seven things that the WHO conveyed in their DONs report. First, there has indeed been an increase in Covid-19 cases globally since mid-February 2025.

Second, the SARS-CoV-2 activity globally has increased with a test positivity rate of 11 percent.

"This figure has not been this high in a long time. The last time it was this high was in July 2024," said the former Director of Communicable Diseases, WHO Southeast Asia 2018-2020, to Tempo, Thursday, June 5, 2025.

Thirdly, Tjandra said that this increase primarily occurred in 3 WHO regions, namely Eastern Mediterranean, South-East Asia, and Western Pacific, in which Indonesia is included.

Fourthly, according to Tjandra, the variants have changed since the beginning of 2025. The Director of Postgraduate Studies at YARSI University stated that the circulation of the LP.8.1 variant has decreased, and there is an increase in the NB.1.8.1 variant, which WHO classifies as a Variant Under Monitoring (VUM). The infection rate of this variant has reached 10.7 percent globally.

"We have not received information about this variant in our country," he said.

Fifth, WHO recommends that countries implement a risk-based, integrated approach to handling Covid-19 in their country. Sixth, WHO also emphasizes that Covid-19 vaccination is part of comprehensive control programs.

"Finally, the WHO states that vaccination is still an important way to prevent severe illness and death from Covid-19, especially among high-risk groups," said Adjunct Professor at Griffith University.

Hendrik Yaputra contributed to the writing of this article

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