Patients With Suspected Omicron Variant In Madiun Increase To Three, Some Have Just Returned From Hong Kong

MADIUN - The number of COVID-19 patients suspected of the Omicron variant being treated at the Dolopo Regional General Hospital, Madiun Regency, East Java, increased by three people.

The director of the Dolopo Hospital, Dr Purnomo Hadi, said the three additional suspected cases of omicron, two of them were the result of close contact tracing of the first omicron positive patient S, while the other was a former Indonesian migrant worker (PMI) who had just returned from Hong Kong.

"Of the three suspected patients, two of them are the result of tracking from S carried out by the health department. For one other patient, is PMI who also returned from Hong Kong," he said, quoted by Antara, Monday, January 17.

According to Purnomo, two of the patients from close contact with S, are S's parents and future husband. They are two of 18 residents who have close contact with S. The tracking itself was carried out on Friday and Saturday last week.

"As a result, two cases of close contact from S, namely S's parents and S's husband-to-be have been found to be positive for Omicron, while another suspected Omicron has not been confirmed because they are still waiting for further tests to East Java Province," he said.

Purnomo explained that the new patients with the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 case began being treated at a local hospital on Saturday, January 15.

They were treated after undergoing a rapid antigen test at the puskesmas as a requirement for a celebration activity. Because the results indicated a new variant of COVID-19, he underwent a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) at the Dolopo Hospital.

"For the remaining suspected omicron case, we have sent a PCR sample from the person concerned to the Unair Laboratory in Surabaya today to confirm whether the omicron is or not. This is considering that he is a former PMI who recently returned from abroad," he said.

Purnomo added, in addition to the four patients, the local hospital also treated another person who was exposed to the Delta variant of COVID-19. So overall, the Dolopo Hospital is treating five COVID-19 patients. One is a Delta variant, three patients are an omicron variant, and the other is a suspected omicron.

To anticipate the increase in confirmed cases in Madiun Regency, Dolopo Hospital currently provides 162 beds.