North Sulawesi COVID-19 Task Force Confirms Three Chinese Foreigners Negative Omicron

ILLUSTRATION/VOI

MANADO - The Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19 in North Sulawesi (Sulut) confirmed that three foreign nationals from China who were previously indicated as Omicron, were tested negative.

"This is based on the results of the zoom meeting with the Indonesian Ministry of Health's Research and Development Center," said the spokesman for the North Sulawesi COVID-19 Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling, Dr. Steaven Dandel MPH, in Manado, as quoted by Antara, Monday, December 20.

He said the confirmation results of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), 'retest S gene target failure' (SGTF), and 'Whole Genomic Sequencing' (WGS) from the three probable Omicron cases in North Sulawesi were negative.

The release of these results, he said, meant aborting the probable Omicron status of the three foreigners in question.

"The process of completing the isolation for those concerned, including the quarantine of their close contacts, will follow the established procedures," he said.

Previously, there were three foreigners who entered through the door of Sam Ratulangi Airport indicated towards the Omicron variant.

"In accordance with the warning from the WHO on November 22, 2021, there is a variant of concern that must be watched out for together, namely Omicron," he said.

Due to the warning, the task force made changes to the quarantine and screening procedures for international travelers entering North Sulawesi.

"Sam Ratulangi Airport is one of several airports permitted by the central government for international travelers. We do PCR and antigens," he said.

During the past week, he said, there were six international travelers from China who tested positive for COVID-19, who were then further examined at BTKL-PP Mapanget using special reagents imported by the Ministry of Health.

This reagent, according to him, could detect the S-gene in Sarscov-2 which could indicate that the positive sample of people has a strong enough probability to Omicron.