Puan Urges Government to Anticipate Hantavirus: Don't Let It Become Like COVID

House of Representatives Speaker Puan Maharani has urged the government to anticipate the spread of hantavirus in Indonesia. Puan stated that mitigating hantavirus is crucial to prevent it from expanding like COVID-19.

“Regarding the hantavirus, all stakeholders should anticipate and mitigate it so as not to later consider this something that does not need to be anticipated and mitigated, only for it to become widespread and cause unintended consequences, similar to what happened during COVID,” Puan said in a press conference following the plenary session at the House of Representatives in Senayan, Jakarta, on Tuesday (12/5/2026).

She called for early prevention measures. She hopes that prevention at Indonesia’s entry points can curb the potential spread.

“So, whatever things that could later spread widely or easily contaminate should be anticipated from the start. Entry points that must be prevented should indeed be prevented so that it does not spread without anticipation,” she said.

Puan stated that the House will request explanations from stakeholders regarding hantavirus prevention. She said anticipation must be taken seriously.

“Because today is the opening of the session in the House, the relevant commissions will certainly request explanations from related stakeholders to carry out preventions or anticipations regarding this matter,” she said.

Previously, the Ministry of Health revealed that the hantavirus cases found in Indonesia so far are of the HFRS type that attacks the kidneys. There are a total of 23 confirmed cases in nine provinces.