Ministry Of Health: Stay Vigilant Even Though The Delta Plus AY.4.2 Variant Is Not Yet In Indonesia

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health reminds all parties to remain vigilant even though the Delta Plus AY.4.2 variant has not been found in Indonesia because it has the potential to cause transmission.

"Until now the Delta Plus AY.4.2 variant has not been found in Indonesia, but what is certain is that we will not calm down, we must remain vigilant because it turns out that this variant is a derivative of the Delta variant," said Director of Direct Infectious Disease Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi in Jakarta, reported by Antara, Tuesday, November 16

Nadia explained that the Delta Plus AY.4.2 corona virus variant is a derivative of the Delta variant. Currently, there are up to 60 derivatives of the Delta variant and in Indonesia, there are already 22 derivatives.

She explained that the Delta variant which is widely circulated in Indonesia is similar to the one in Singapore, namely the Delta AY.2.3 variant.

"This Delta variant is a virus which variant attacked yesterday in July, it spreads more quickly, increasing the mortality rate and the severity rate. Of course, this remains our vigilance that currently, the dominance of the Delta variant and its derivatives are the variants that we find the most, meaning the potential the spike in cases is possible," said Nadia.

Regarding the efficacy of vaccines against new variants, said Nadia, existing and used vaccines in Indonesia is still sufficient to provide protection or immunity against the new variant of the coronavirus, although there are several studies that suggest the possibility of a decrease in immunity over a period of time.

Nadia emphasized that people who have been vaccinated are less likely to be infected with the new variant of the coronavirus than people who have not been vaccinated. Therefore, he reminded the public to vaccinate as protection.

To date, 131.2 million people have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccination, 85.3 million people have completed their vaccination dose, and 1.1 million people have received the third dose of booster vaccination.