Wisma Athletes Kemayoran Lockdown 7 Days After Officers Were Exposed To Variant Omicron, Government Busy Mitigation

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JAKARTA - The government has finally decided to lock down the COVID-19 Emergency Hospital (RSDC) Wisma Atlet Kemayoran, Jakarta after a janitor tested positive for COVID-19, the Omicron variant. This decision was taken to prevent a wider spread.

Spokesperson for the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) Jodi Mahardi revealed that the government had decided to lock down a number of towers at the Kemayoran Athlete House. This decision was made to mitigate the transmission of the new variant of the virus.

"The government is currently taking mitigation steps by locking or locking several athletes' guesthouse towers so that this variant does not spread widely," said Jodi in a written statement.

Not only that, Jodi said, the government is working to intensify whole genome sequencing in the country. The goal is that the spread of the new variant can be detected and anticipated.

"The government will also carry out strict genome sequencing spread throughout Indonesia," he said.

Complementing Jodi's statement, the Head of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Suharyanto, said that the temporary isolation of the Kemayoran Athlete Hospital will be carried out for a week.

This decision was taken based on a coordination meeting with Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin, TNI, and the COVID-19 Task Force.

"The latest developments in the situation have forced the government to act quickly to prevent local transmission of the Omicron variant virus. Isolation of the RSDC is a step that is expected to be effective for this purpose," said Head of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Suharyanto in a written statement.

Suharyanto explained that a number of towers at the RSDC Wisma Atlet Kemayoran, currently functioned as quarantine places for international travelers such as Wisma Atlet Pademangan.

Furthermore, he said the government is now opening the Nagrak Flat in Cilincing, North Jakarta for a centralized quarantine for PMI, students and state civil servants (ASN) as a quarantine reserve. The total capacity of the bed is about 4 thousand.

As for the health workers in the flats, Suharyanto said, later they would be brought in from the Jakarta Health Office (Dinkes). The reason is because the number of health workers from the Wisma Atlet Kemayoran Hospital is limited and isolation will soon be carried out there.

Not only that, Suharyanto also appealed to patients who had finished the quarantine period at Tower 4 of the Wisma Atlet Hospital for the past 14 days to continue to monitor their health conditions. If symptoms occur, they are asked to immediately report to the puskesmas in their area.

Regarding the spread of the Omicron variant at the Kemayoran Athlete Hospital, an epidemiologist from Australia's Griffith University, Dicky Budiman, asked the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) to conduct a thorough investigation and testing of patients who are currently quarantined at Wisma Atlet.

"Test all, carry out the investigation, including making sure the people who had contact with them are tested and quarantined. That is what must be done," said Dicky in a statement received by VOI, Thursday, December 16.

In addition, Dicky asked that the transmission process that caused a janitor to test positive for the Omicron variant should be known. "Because if you don't find it, it's a question. Where did it come from," he said.

"It means, if it was detected a week ago, it had to be searched a week ago in the building that he serves, it must be traced and tracked," added Dicky.

Finally, Dicky asked that all residents of the Athlete's Guesthouse where the transmission of the Omicron variant occurred must be extended for a period of quarantine. The additional time is solely done to prevent the transmission of the new variant in the community.

Moreover, the Omicron variant has a fast time in the transmission process. "To prevent this from spreading everywhere, of course, one building will be added to a seven-day quarantine. Including the officers," he concluded.