Mutation Of COVID-19 B117 Entering Indonesia, Government Gets Valuable Lessons

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the Task Force (Task Force) Handling COVID-19 Wiku Adisasmito said the entry of the mutated COVID-19 variant, B117, to Indonesia was a valuable lesson.

This is because the entry of this virus has reminded the government to again fortify the public from this mutation of the virus from England.

"In principle, this incident is a valuable lesson for Indonesia," Wiku said in a press conference broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat YouTube account, Thursday, March 4.

The existence of this virus has reminded the government to intensify efforts to anticipate the entry of the virus from abroad in various ways, including tightening the arrival gate and ensuring the accuracy of the COVID-19 test kits.

"Including the procedures for quarantine, isolation, and care in a holistic and relational manner," he explained. Furthermore, Wiku denied that the government was said to have cheated on the entry of COVID-19 mutations from abroad.

He said this could happen because of the mobility that the government could not continuously limit. "Because it threatens the socio-economic sector and the government has travel agreements with several countries," he said.

As previously reported, the government has taken strategic steps to work with researchers to better understand the development of this virus and instruct officers in the field.

The new mutation of the COVID-19 case began with the return of two female Indonesian workers (TKI) with the initials M and A from Saudi Arabia using a Qatar Airways plane.

The arrival of the two migrant workers to Indonesia used different planes even though they both landed at Soekarno Hatta Airport. M landed on January 28, 2021, while A landed January 31, 2021.

Both have been given PCR swab tests with positive results. Then the isolation was carried out in Jakarta. From the whole genome sequencing test, it was found that they had been exposed to a new variant of the corona from England.

Currently, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil confirmed that the new variant of the COVID-19 case that infected its citizens already had negative test results. However, they are still undergoing independent isolation.

"Two (cases) per day have been negative from the new variant virus but are still isolated in their respective homes. We (West Java Provincial Government) are still not sure (not infectious). So we do additional isolation," said Ridwan Kamil.

Furthermore, the man who is familiarly called Kang Emil asked the Karawang Regent, Dandim, and the Head of the Karawang Metro Police to increase contact tracing of the two new variant cases.

"Don't let the mistakes get bigger and we finally can't control it. While it's only small, and maybe there could also be other things to detect immediately. We know when it's too late, the price of the teearment is very expensive," he said.