Vice President Ma’ruf Amin has warned of a potential spike in COVID-19 transmission during the 2021 Christmas and 2022 New Year holidays.

“We need to anticipate the fairly long holiday period, pertaining to Christmas and the New Year,” he said during a video conference here on Monday.

He further said he expected there would be no surge in mobility in various regions if people employ a vigilant attitude prior to the Christmas and New Year holidays.

“We will soon face a fairly high mobility increase, even before the Christmas and New Year holidays. So we need to increase our vigilance,” he added.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin, said that stricter health protocols would be imposed ahead of the 2021 Christmas and 2022 New Year holidays to maintain the current state of low COVID-19 transmission in regions and anticipate the third wave.

“The health protocols are important because while Indonesia is currently on the low (in terms of COVID-19 cases), we want to make sure that we can implement the health protocols as well as possible, so that there will not be another spike, especially in the coming Christmas and New Year,” he added.

He revealed that President Joko Widodo has instructed ministers, through Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy, to ensure there is no spike in COVID-19 cases during the year-end holidays.

Sadikin said he fully supported the instructions, adding his ministry will do its best to maintain the low COVID-19 spread rate since many global-scale events are scheduled to be held in Indonesia next year.

Source: Antara News