North Sulawesi COVID-19 Task Force: Three Foreigners From China Allegedly Indicated Omicron Variant, Samples Now Examined By The Research And Development Center

MANADO - Spokesperson for the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19 in North Sulawesi, Dr. Steaven Dandel MPH, said three foreign nationals (WNA) from China who entered through the doors of Sam Ratulangi Airport indicated the Omicron variant.

"In accordance with the warning from the WHO on November 22, 2021, there is a variant of concern that must be watched out for together, namely Omicron," said doctor Steaven in Manado, quoted by Antara, Thursday, December 16.

Due to the warning, the task force made changes to the quarantine and screening procedures for international travelers entering North Sulawesi.

"Sam Ratulangi Airport is one of several airports permitted by the central government for international travelers. We do PCR and antigens," he said.

During the past week, he said, there were six international travelers from China who tested positive for COVID-19, who were then further examined at BTKL-PP Mapanget using special reagents imported by the Ministry of Health.

This reagent, according to him, could detect the S-gene in Sarscov-2 which could indicate that the positive sample of people has a strong enough probability to Omicron.

However, according to him, it is necessary to underline that the S-gene can also be found in other variants so that the packaging standard must be checked through 'Whole Genome Sequencing' (WGS).

"So the indicated samples were sent to the Research and Development Center and WGS will be carried out, their genetic components parsed and compared to the 'database' to ensure that the three people detected in BTKL-PP are Omicron variants or not," he said.