The Key To Prevent Omicron Clusters Only Through Testing And Tracing

ILLUSTRATION/PIXABAY

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Vaccination of the Indonesian Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said the key to preventing the formation of clusters due to the Omicron variant in the community can only be done through testing and tracing activities.

"So that this cluster does not widen or widen, of course, there is no other way to identify it except testing and tracing," said Nadia, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, December 28.

Responding to the government's efforts to prevent new clusters from being formed, Nadia said that the government continues to monitor the increased risk of cluster formation due to Omicron in all regions up to the village and sub-district levels. Through the detection of people suspected of having close contact with people who are positive for COVID-19.

The detection was carried out by implementing a micro-lockdown at a location point, to prevent the formation of clusters of people who were positive for Omicron escaping from surveillance which could potentially widen the chances of a spike in COVID-19 cases. When the first Omicron case was discovered, an officer cleanliness at the Wisma Atlet on Thursday, December 16, which led to a full seven-day isolation at the venue.

In addition, detection is also carried out by separating people who are positive for COVID-19 from healthy populations through centralized isolation or self-isolation in order to localize the occurrence of more widespread transmission.

Nadia explained that to carry out testing and tracing activities, the government must mobilize all personnel of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force up to the RT, RW, village, and village hall levels as one of the interventions to prevent Omicron transmission.

Through the method used, he hopes that no new clusters due to Omicron are formed. Nadia also hopes that all parties will cooperate and continue to prioritize health protocols by maintaining distance and not traveling before the new change so that there will be no spike in COVID-19 cases.

"We hope that there will not be new clusters and then the key to the absence or emergence of these clusters is to quickly detect them," said Nadia.