The Person Who Is Exposed To The New Mutation Of COVID-19 E484K Or Corona Eek In Jakarta Turns Out To Have No History Of Overseas Travel

JAKARTA - One case of COVID-19 new mutation was found to infect one of Jakarta residents. This mutation is called E484K or Corona Eek.

This new variant of COVID-19 was first discovered in the UK. The E484K mutation that occurs in spike proteins is the same mutation as found in the South African and Brazilian mutations.

Director of Prevention and Control of Vector and Zoonotic Diseases of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) Siti Nadia Tarmizi said the new variant virus infects people who do not travel from abroad.

"There was one positive case of E484K virus in early March 2021. This infected person has no history of traveling from abroad", Nadia told VOI editorial team on Thursday, April 8.

However, at this time, the Ministry of Health has not studied whether E484K mutated domestically or contracted from others who have not detected cases of COVID-19.

"It could be a confirmed case of E484K mutating directly in Indonesia or contracting from a person who has traveled from abroad. But, surely the case that we found is local transmission", he explained.

Currently, people who are infected with E484K have been declared cured and do not transmit to others. "We've done a contact check. They are in good health and there is no positive contact with COVID-19", Nadia said.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 Handling Task Force Spokesperson, Wiku Adisasmito said That COVID-19 type E484K is more contagious than the original one.

Nevertheless, Wiku urged the public not to panic and should be more disciplined in carrying out health protocols in every activity. Considering, this discipline is the main defense in preventing the transmission of COVID-19.

"The government also continues to increase surveillance of whole-genome sequencing to map variants of COVID-19 entering Indonesia, as well as tightening the screening process at a time when foreign citizens and Indonesians entering from abroad to Indonesia", explained Wiku.