The Cleaning Officer At The Athlete's Guesthouse Has No History Of Going Abroad, How Can You Be Infected With The Omicron Variant?

JAKARTA - A janitor at Wisma Atlet is confirmed to have contracted the Omicron variant. Even though he has no history of traveling abroad. Where did he get it from?

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin tried to explain this question. One positive case and five cases categorized with suspected omicron status occurred in the quarantine area.

"Indeed, this janitor does not have a history of traveling abroad. But we can learn from Hong Kong, it happened like that," said Budi Gunadi at a virtual press conference, Thursday, December 16.

"Because he (the janitor) serves patients, he is infected as a result. Now, the infected person happens to live in the Wisma Atlet dormitory," he continued.

The government has now increased the percentage of whole genome sequencing of all confirmed cases of COVID-19. Usually only five percent will be increased to 10 percent so that if there is an Omicron it will be anticipated more quickly.

"All of our confirmed cases are WGS," said Budi.

Budi also confirmed that he would intensify the technology of antigen examination and PCR with the S-gene target failure (SGTF) method. PCR with SGTF reagent can provide an early indication if Omicron is possible.

"Because we can get PCR results in 4-6 hours, for WGS it takes 5-7 days," he said.