Epidemiologist: Indonesia Has Not Yet Passed The Critical Period

JAKARTA - Epidemiologist from Australia's Griffith University Dicky Budiman said the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia had not yet surpassed a critical situation amid the threat of a number of Omicron subvariants lurking in the country.

"The important message is that each mutation gives birth to evidence that we are giving the virus an opportunity to develop. Indonesia has not yet passed the critical period," said Dicky Budiman, who was confirmed in Jakarta, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, March 9 night.

He said Omicron is not the last variant on earth and every Variant of Concern (VoI) must be watched out for because it continues to mutate.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified Omicron subvariants including BA.1, BA.2, BA.3, and BA.11.

According to Dicky Omicron, it has the opportunity to give birth to subvariants because it has characteristics that can trick vaccines and easily mutate in humans who do not have high immunity.

"The advantage of this Omicron is that it can infect people who have not been vaccinated and have been vaccinated," he said.

So that without a strong combination of vaccination, 3T, and 5M as well as PPKM, said Dicky, the Omicron variant could continue to mutate in Indonesia.

According to Dicky, of the detected Omicron subvariant, the BA.2 subvariance is something to watch out for because it has 27 times the ability to avoid vaccines compared to other subvariants.

"BA.2, its infectious ability is 30 percent stronger than BA.1," he said.

In addition, the BA.2 subvariant has the ability to transmit four times faster than the Delta variant and when compared to the original variant from Wuhan, it is 20 times more infectious.

"Besides that, BA.2 also has the advantage of having a high viral load compared to BA.1. The number of viruses is more than BA.1, which can be 10 times more," he said.

Dicky said the BA.3 variant so far is not too worrying because the infectivity is lower than BA.1 and BA.2.

Separately confirmed, Spokesperson for the Indonesian Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, reported that the Omicron subvariant in Indonesia was still dominated by BA.1, which amounted to about 5,300 cases.

"As of Tuesday, March 8, there are 478 Omicron mutations in Indonesia of BA.2 type, BA.1 as many as 5,300 cases and B.11 as many as 1,883 cases," she said.

Nadia said that until now the Health Research and Development Agency (Balitbangkes) has not detected the Omicron BA.3 subvariant in Indonesia.