JAKARTA: The Health Ministry is increasing its vigilance against two newly emerged Covid-19 sub variants, KP.1 and KP.2, which are thought to be responsible for a recent spike in cases in neighbouring Singapore.
Coronavirus cases in Singapore have almost doubled in recent weeks, with the country reporting 25,900 cases between May 5 and 11, compared with 13,700 cases in the previous week.
The average daily Covid-19 hospitalizations in the city-state increased to about 250 cases in the same period, from 181 the week before.
The combined proportion of KP.1 and KP.2 accounts for over two-thirds of all Covid-19 cases there.
Indonesia is closely monitoring the spread of the two emerging variants in other countries but so far has not found any cases of the new variants in Indonesia, Health Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Syahril said on May 22.
Syahril said the two emerging variants were descended from the Omicron JN.1 variant, the most common Covid-19 variant currently circulating in the world.
Besides Singapore, several other Asean countries, such as Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia have reported KP.1 and KP.2 cases. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
