The Ministry Of Health Confirms The Emergence Of COVID-19 Mutation Cases In Indonesia A Year After The First Case Was Announced

JAKARTA - Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono confirmed that today a new mutation of COVID-19 was found in Indonesia. The new mutated COVID-19 variant is named "VUI-202012/01" or G117.

"If one year ago we found case 01 and case 02 COVID-19, last night I received information that in exactly one year today we found the G117 mutation in Indonesia. This was only last night we found two cases", said Dante on YouTube broadcast of Ministry of Research and Technology/National Agency for Research and Innovation, Tuesday, March 2.

Dante said the emergence of a new coronavirus strain that had entered Indonesia meant that the pandemic challenge was getting tougher.

The new challenges faced, said Dantez, are efforts to develop faster research processes, better treatment models, and analytical epidemiological studies.

"This mutation process is already around us. Hopefully, the collaboration we are working on from the community, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Research and Technology/National Agency for Research and Technology will create positive things that will get us out of this pandemic, into one endemic scope, and if we do. maybe we will enter eradication", he explained.

Some time ago, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin simply explained the emergence of a new mutation of COVID-19 that caught the world's attention, including Indonesia. The new mutation of COVID-19, which was originally discovered in the UK, is more quickly transmitted according to the Minister of Health.

"Indeed, the virus is a collection of living proteins. To make this a little simple, why is it called the coronavirus, the virus is round there are coronas, there are horns like that. In which there is protein n, e or m. whose horn is called protein S. In these proteins there are many amino acids, the components in the protein that make up this protein and that are changing", said Minister of Health Budi Gunadi.

"What is the impact (the new variant) on us? number 1 is more contagious, number 2 is no more deadly. Number 3 can still be detected with the virus using existing tools, antigen swab or PCR swab", said the Minister of Health.

The COVID-19 mutation is cannot be detected according to the Minister of Health. However, if someone is exposed to this virus, it is certain that the Minister of Health can be detected. "And most likely it could be inhibited by the current vaccine", he said.

Regarding the discovery of a new mutation of COVID-19 in Indonesia, the Minister of Health said that it had not been identified conservatively.

"Why? because Indonesia has not routinely carried out genome sequencing, so people who are sick will have their samples taken for genome sequencing, how many mutations have they been, we have not been disciplined (genome sequencing)", said the Minister of Health.

A year of coronavirus in Indonesia 2020. In March last year, the government officially released COVID-19 into Indonesia, mentioning cases 01, 02 and so on. VOI editorial team tried to reflect back on last year's incident. What and how confused this country is. Click here for more news.