Not To Coordinating Minister Luhut, Jokowi Gives Special Tasks To Minister Budi Gunadi To Monitor The Omicron Variant

Photo: BPMI Setpres/Rusman

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (Menko PMK) Muhadjir Effendy said President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) gave a special task to Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin to continue to monitor the development of the new variant of COVID-19, namely Omicron.

"Earlier at the meeting, the President had specifically assigned the Minister of Health to really monitor this new variant and even asked for it to be updated every day," said Muhadjir in a written statement, Tuesday, November 30.

This monitoring is necessary because Omicron variants must continue to be watched out for. Moreover, Muhadjir said, there was concern that this virus mutation could reduce the immunity that people already had after receiving the vaccine or being exposed to COVID-19 before.

In fact, based on a survey by the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) the current level of community immunity to COVID-19 is very high, reaching 90 percent, especially in big cities.

"This means that people are immune enough to face COVID-19," he said.

"But what we are really worried about is that this new variant will be able to end the immunity that has been obtained. This is what we are wary of," added the former Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud).

Furthermore, Muhadjir also touched on Indonesia's readiness to face the Omicron variant of COVID-19. He said the experience of dealing with the Delta variant, which previously led to an increase in active cases in the country, became the best teacher.

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Muhadjir said, after the Delta variant, now health facilities are getting better to handle COVID-19 patients, as well as medical personnel, are now better prepared. Thus, the government ensures that it is ready to deal with new variants and increased cases.

"We already have experience in dealing with the Delta variant. With the Delta variant, there are also many lessons, for example, now the condition of our health facilities is very good, our oxygen availability is very good, then our medical personnel are also more prepared. So there are many lessons that we can also learn from the outbreak," he concluded.