Bandung Health Office: 5 Positive People For COVID-19 Results Of Close Contact Tracking Of Omicron Patients

BANDUNG - The Bandung City Health Office, West Java, noted that five people were confirmed positive for COVID-19 from the results of tracking dozens of people who had close contact with six residents with confirmed Omicron variants.

Head of the Bandung City Health Office, Ahyani Raksanagara, said that the five confirmed cases of COVID-19 had not been confirmed to have been exposed to Omicron. Because the test samples from the five people are still being tested for whole-genome sequencing (WGS) in the laboratory.

"Of the six people (confirmed by omicron) we tracked down to 89 people (close contacts), there were four positive people, after five days of checking again, one person was positive again. So this close contact became five positive people", he said, quoted by Antara on Wednesday, January 26.

Ahyani said the tracking was still needed to anticipate a wider spread. He said that currently, the number of COVID-19 cases in the city of Bandung had increased compared to some previous times.

In early to mid-January 2022, the number of COVID-19 cases in the city of Bandung was below 50 active cases, but since January 18, 2022, active cases of COVID-19 have continued to increase, far-reaching 183 people.

Regarding the Omicron variant which has a low fatality rate, according to him, the public still has to watch out for this variant. The reason is that these variants are still risky for vulnerable people.

"If this Omicron spreads quickly, but the fatality rate is low, right, but these are all COVID-19 viruses. If it hits the elderly, it has a dangerous impact", he said.

Ahyani said the Omicron patients in Bandung City had mild symptoms. This is related to the level of endurance after a person is injected with the vaccine.

"Therefore, dealing with Omicron is still a health protocol. If now you need isolation, then do it with discipline, don't forget to vaccinate too", he said.