Task Force Reminds To Tighten Prokes Amid The Emergence Of New Variants Of COVID-19

JAKARTA - The COVID-19 Handling Task Force reminds the public to tighten and adhere to health protocols in a disciplined manner amidst the emergence of a new variant of COVID-19, namely Omicron, which is said to be more infectious than the previous virus variant.

Head of the Data and IT Division of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Dr. Dewi Nur Aisyah said complying with public health procedures such as wearing masks and maintaining physical distance had a significant impact on the rate of transmission of COVID-19 in the event of a third wave at the end of the year.

"What must be reminded is consistency, don't forget that maybe our cases are down, it doesn't mean we are safe. This virus is really smart, suddenly a new variant appears that makes it more infectious, affects the effectiveness of health services in the field and so on," said Dewi in an online press conference quoted by Antara, Monday, November 29.

Dewi said the Omicron virus variant was designated as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) a few days ago.

A virus variant is called a variant of concern if it has the category of increasing the epidemiological transmission rate, increasing changes in disease symptoms, and reducing the effectiveness of currently available public health efforts, treatments, and diagnostic tools.

He admitted that at this time people could not continue to stay indoors and had to do activities outside the home even though the pandemic was still going on. However, he stressed that activities outside the home must be accompanied by the application of strict health protocols and have been fully vaccinated.

"Consistency in applying the 3M protocol wherever you are is important, especially when you start your activities. Especially if you have started limited face-to-face learning, have returned to work, it is certain that the health protocol will still be carried out," he said.

Dewi emphasized that even though there is a new variant of the COVID-19 virus, the process can still prevent up to 80 percent of people from contracting the virus regardless of its variant.