Prof Tjandra Yoga Aditama: Symptoms Of Omicron Are Indeed Mild But Cannot Be Taken Lightly

JAKARTA - Director of Post-graduate Program at YARSI University, Prof. Tjandra Yoga Aditama, said that although Omicron did have mild symptoms. However, all parties cannot take it easy or lightly the transmission caused by the new variant.

“I tend to have no data, of course it is easy, but it is more easily transmitted. So it cannot be said that it is light because it is very easy (the transmission)," said Tjandra as quoted by Antara, Monday, January 3.

Tjandra said that up to now, the Omicron case has been infecting more people at a young age, so the symptoms they feel appear to be lighter. However, young people tend to be more productive and move more often.

With the nature of Omicron which spreads more quickly, it is feared that it could open up the potential for families with advanced age or comorbidities to be affected by COVID-19 because it can cause more severe symptoms or even family clusters.

"If he feels the symptoms are mild, if he is a young person. But what if he then approached a much older family? The symptoms are not necessarily as light as him," said Tjandra, who is also the former Director of Infectious Diseases of WHO Southeast Asia.

According to him, when it comes to the protocols implemented by the community, even though they have implemented them with discipline, mild Omicron symptoms have been proven to have caused dozens of people to be declared dead.

This means that mild symptoms are not an obstacle, the variant is still dangerous and has a risk of death and can cause a spike in cases and jeopardize the capacity of the Bed Occupancy Ratio (BOR) in hospitals.

With faster transmission, he asked everyone to continue to follow the health protocols, whether there is an Omicron or not.

"Talking with friends in Asia-Pacific, it's better if we change the new normal to now normal. While there is still a pandemic, if we use the habit of wearing masks, keeping our distance, washing our hands, it becomes part of now normal whether there is an Omicron or not," he said.

The head of the COVID-19 Task Force for the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) Zubairi Djoerban said the risk of COVID-19 transmission in Indonesia was currently very low when viewed from the rankings in the world.

Based on the data he has, Indonesia is now ranked 129 with a total of 1,049 cases in the past week.

"In early 2022, we have very, very little risk of contracting it. The number of cases in Indonesia in the last seven days is 1,409, we are ranked 129. So the ranking is very low," said Zubairi.

The number of cases of COVID-19 transmission is lower than the number of Americans who have 2.5 million cases per week, France 1.1 million cases and Britain 1.1 million cases.

"So Indonesia is now in a very good condition in terms of the COVID-19 disease. So there is no need to worry," he said.

However, he stressed that the COVID-19 pandemic was not over yet, so he asked everyone not to get caught up in this good condition and to remain disciplined in carrying out health protocols, especially vaccinations.

"We still have to be vigilant, not arrogant. The most important thing to ward off viruses, especially viruses from the cause of COVID-19, is vaccination. Who hasn't been vaccinated twice, immediately vaccinated," he said.