JAKARTA, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian authorities are calling those over 60 years old who had their first COVID-19 vaccine booster shots over six months ago to immediately get the second booster dose amid a new infection wave.
The surge of new COVID cases is driven by the new COVID-19 variant of concern known as XBB, which is behind a vast swath of infections across some Asian countries and has made up an increasing share of reported virus sequences from around the world and in arriving international travelers.
The emergence of XBB in Indonesia was announced by the country's Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin in October.
Since early November, health authorities in the Southeast Asian country have been recording more than 3,000 daily cases amid the emergence of the XBB.
On Wednesday, the authorities confirmed 5,609 new cases with more than 59,000 active cases in the past 24 hours. Active cases mean those people are still considered to be infectious.
Sadikin recently said that his office had conducted an in-depth observation and the current wave of COVID-19 cases will likely peak by December.
Last week, Indonesia, the world's fourth largest population, authorized the second COVID-19 vaccination booster shot for older adults. The country's President Joko Widodo, 61, received his second booster dose last Thursday.
A spokesperson for the Health Ministry, Mohammad Syahril, has said that the second booster dose campaign is prioritized for the age group as they are more vulnerable to the infection.
"The government wants to assure that the elderly are truly protected from the severe effects of COVID-19," he told local media on Tuesday.
For the time being, the government is not planning to introduce any new restrictive measures but highly recommends vaccination.
In August, the government started campaigning for the second booster dose rollout for healthcare workers in the country. To date, more than 700,000 medical workers have received their doses.
About 66 million people in the country had received their first COVID-19 booster vaccine doses as of Wednesday, while nearly 800,000 people have taken the second booster dose.
Indonesia started mass COVID-19 vaccinations in January last year after the government approved the emergency use of China's Sinovac vaccine, aiming to vaccinate 234 million people fully. ■
