Omicron Patient Passed Quarantine, Cak Imin: Teledor Government

JAKARTA - Chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB) Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar or Cak Imin regrets that a positive patient of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus has escaped quarantine at the Kemayoran Athlete's Wisma Jakarta. Moreover, the reason the patient was allowed to go home by the DKI Health Office was after the results of the comparative COVID test were declared negative. Cak Imin then asked the Ministry of Health to seriously deal with this problem.

"I think the government is careless, of course it is very regretful. I ask the Ministry of Health to immediately take this problem seriously," said Cak Imin in Jakarta, Tuesday, December 28.

The Deputy Chair of the Indonesian House of Representatives in the field of Korkesra asked the government to be more firm and not to tolerate any form of tolerance for any patient, especially those confirmed by Omicron. The reason is that the escape of the quarantine patient was allegedly due to a dispensation from officers in the field. "We are all currently at war against COVID-19, which has many variants and continues to mutate. It's called a war, so we have to be serious in any case, the tools, the system, as well as the defense. If we ignore one, we will lose," said Cak Imin.

Therefore, Cak Imin asked for the quarantine dispensation policy to be removed in order to anticipate the recurrence of this incident. Mainly, quarantine for international travelers who have just entered Indonesia.

"Stop the dispensations first, delete them. There are no exceptions for anyone in terms of quarantine, because COVID-19 does not recognize figures and positions. Anyone can get infected if they are ignored," said Cak Imin. Previously, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin revealed that the Omicron patient who escaped from the Wisma Atlet was an overseas traveler who came from England. On arrival, he tested positive for COVID-19, but asked for a comparison test.

After the second test, he was declared negative for COVID-19 and allowed to self-quarantine by the DKI Health Office.

"Five days later, the Omicron test was positive, so we are chasing again, we are testing all of his family and Alhamdulillah, they are negative," said the Minister of Health at a press conference, Monday, December 27.