Anies Baswedan Reveals 87 Percent Findings Of COVID-19 Delta Variant Mutations In Jakarta

JAKARTA - DKI Jakarta Governor, Anies Baswedan, explained that the majority of the COVID-19 mutation findings in the Capital City were the Delta variant of B1617.2. This variant comes from India.

Anies explained this in a limited coordination meeting with the central government regarding the plan for implementing emergency PPKM (Restrictions on Community Activities).

"The Delta variant dominates 87 percent of the total new variant cases that have been identified in Jakarta", Anies said, quoted on Wednesday, June 30.

In total, there are 128 positive confirmed cases which are new variants in Jakarta, based on the results of the whole genome sequencing (WGS) examination.

In addition to the Delta variant, there were 11 cases of the Alpha or B117 variant from the UK, 5 cases of the Beta or B1351 variant from South Africa, and 1 case of the Kappa or B1617.1 variant from India.

Anies also explained that many new variant cases were identified in the segment of children under 18 years old. In proportion, there were 29 cases in children aged 0-5 years, 26 cases at the age of 6-18 years, 71 cases at the age of 19-59 years, and 2 cases at the age of 60 years and over.

Anies also asked for four forms of support for handling COVID-19 from the central government when the emergency PPKM was implemented. First, Anies asked for support from the central government for tightening population mobility.

"A substantial and significant tightening of intra- and inter-regional population mobility can stop the spike in new cases and reduce active cases, with a bi-weekly cycle as recommended by epidemiologists", said Anies.

Second, Anies asked for additional health workers and support personnel from the central government. According to him, the health workers in the hospital can be met by students and lecturers.

"Professional field tracers need an additional 2,156 to reach 15-30 per 100,000 population. There are 5,139 additional vaccinators, namely 2,050 health workers and 3,089 non-health workers", said Anies.

Third, the need for regulation to support rapid antigen-positive with moderate and critical symptoms can be handled in hospitals and claimed for financing.

Fourth, there is more intensive public communication regarding the safety, effectiveness, and halalness of the COVID-19 vaccine.