Jakarta, May 31 -- The Indonesian Health Ministry issued a circular to raise awareness about COVID-19 and the risk of other outbreaks following an increase in COVID-19 cases in several countries in Asia.

In a statement on Saturday, the ministry's Acting Director General of Disease Control, Murti Utami, reported that COVID-19 cases have increased in several Asian regions, including Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore.

"The dominant COVID-19 variants spreading in Thailand are XEC and JN.1, in Singapore LF.7 and NB.1.8 (derivatives of JN.1), in Hong Kong JN.1, and in Malaysia XEC (derivative of JN.1). However, the infection transmission and the death rate are still relatively low," she stated.

As Indonesia enters its 20th week of...