JAKARTA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's Ministry of Health has reported a 93-percent decline in daily measles cases amid an ongoing outbreak, with figures dropping from a peak of 2,220 cases in early 2026 to 146 in mid-March, officials said on Monday.
"The downward trend has been consistently observed across 14 provinces and 10 regencies and cities that previously recorded case surges in late 2025 and early 2026," said Andi Saguni, the ministry's acting director general of disease control.
He noted that the national surveillance system remained fully operational during the Eid al-Fitr holiday period, supported by real-time monitoring and multi-layered verification with regional health authorities.
Despite the improvement, the ministry recorded 10 measles-related deaths in 2026, including an intern doctor in Cianjur who died from severe complications after being exposed while on duty.
The government is accelerating evaluations of clinical trials aimed at expanding measles vaccination coverage to adults, while urging the public and healthcare workers to complete immunizations to help curb transmission. ■
