Task Force Confirms Omicron Variant Has Not Been Found In Indonesia

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The COVID-19 Handling Task Force (Satgas) confirmed that cases infected with the Omicron variant had not yet been found in Indonesia.

"Currently, the government continues to monitor the distribution of the COVID-19 variant through the sequencing of specimens of travelers at each entrance spread across Indonesia, and until now there have been no cases of Omicron variants found," said Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Task Force, Prof. Wiku Adisasmito, quoted by Antara, Thursday, December 9th.

He hopes that a number of anticipatory steps that have been taken early by the government can stem the import of the Omicron variant.

The government, continued Wiku, is also committed to optimizing testing capacity, especially testing tools that have high sensitivity to detect various variants of COVID-19.

"Currently, laboratories throughout Indonesia have been able to detect genetic characteristics of about 500-600 samples per day to support efforts to increase the number of sequencing, especially specimens of travelers from countries detected as having community transmission due to the Omicron variant," he said.

In order to support the policy of extending the duration of quarantine, Wiku said, the government guarantees the availability of quarantine facilities, both at Wisma Atlet or Pasar Rumput with a room capacity of 3,700 rooms and 72 hotels spread across the nation.

Previously, the Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Vaccination of the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, confirmed that the report on the findings of the Omicron (B.1.1.529) case in Bekasi Regency, West Java, was not true.

"This is not true (Omicron's findings in Bekasi Regency). There have been no cases of Omicron (in Indonesia) so far," said Siti Nadia Tarmizi.

Nadia said that her party had studied the information with laboratory officers in the local area due to reports of four residents being exposed to Omicron.