JAKARTA – Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has confirmed a surge in Covid cases involving a new variant in Indonesia.

Budi stated that the spike in cases had been reported to President Prabowo Subianto during a closed meeting at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday (3/6).

Nevertheless, Budi claimed that the recent increase in Covid cases was due to a new variant, which is relatively non-lethal.

“So, there’s no need to be overly concerned in order to prevent public panic,” said Budi after his meeting with Prabowo.

Previously, the Ministry of Health had issued a circular to prevent a Covid spike since 23 May 2025. The circular followed the discovery of 31 new confirmed cases in the previous two weeks.

According to data compiled by IDNFinancials.com, a number of countries in the Asian region have also reported the emergence of new Covid variants in recent weeks.

In India, the new variant was reported to have reached 4,000 cases as of 3 June 2025, with five recorded deaths.

Meanwhile in Indonesia, Ministry of Health data showed that seven cases had been recorded between 25–31 May 2025.

The positivity rate during this period reached 2.05%, indicating that only two people out of every 100 tested were positive for Covid.

In addition to discussing the surge in new Covid variant cases, Budi and Prabowo also reviewed priority programmes in the health sector, including the construction of 66 hospitals over the next five years.

Budi said that the hospital construction programme could be accelerated to two years, with 32 hospital sites planned for development in 2025.

“Of these 32, 16 have already broken ground. So, they’re expected to be completed this year,” Budi revealed. (KR/ZH)