The Opening Of The Omicron Variant Possibly Spreads After The Discovery Of Local Transmission Cases

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JAKARTA - One case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 which was transmitted from local transmission has been found. This case of local transmission infected a man with no history of overseas travel.

Director of Prevention and Control of Directly Infectious Diseases of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) Siti Nadia Tarmizi said it did not rule out that the Omicron variant had spread to other locations.

"Although we have only found one case of local transmission, it is possible that there has been local transmission elsewhere," said Nadia in a virtual discussion, Tuesday, December 28.

Because, in this case, a 37-year-old man who was infected with Omicron's local transmission previously traveled from Medan to Jakarta, had visited a restaurant in the SCBD area, South Jakarta, and settled in an apartment in North Jakarta.

Therefore, there are many possible locations for this man to be exposed to the Omicron virus. "There are two possibilities, whether he was infected when he was in Medan, or he was infected when he was in Jakarta," said Nadia.

To follow up, the government conducted contact tracing in all locations that the local transmission Omicron patient had visited.

"The Health Service has coordinated with the Tourism and Creative Economy Agency to carry out tracing at the place the person concerned came to, in SCBD, and also around the residence in question, as well as tracing related activities carried out by the person concerned while in Jakarta," explained Nadia.

In addition, the government will also conduct PCR swab tests on several employees at SCBD. Then, tracing was also carried out on health workers who were the locations for the PCR test for men exposed to this local transmission of Omicron.

It is known, the first case of Omicron local transmission was found in a 37-year-old man who had no foreign travel.

Patients exposed to local transmission Omicron live in Medan and to Jakarta once a month. From existing data, this man and his wife arrived in Jakarta on December 6 last.

Then, on December 17th, they visited a restaurant in SCBD, South Jakarta, and on December 19th they tested positive for COVID-19.

The patient and his wife did an antigen test and it was found positive because they were planning to return to Medan. Then, PCR was performed on December 20 and confirmation of Omicron was obtained from the laboratory on December 26.

The husband was first taken to the Sulianti Saroso Hospital for isolation. Following that, his wife also tested positive for COVID-19, but it is not known whether she is infected with Omicron or not. When exposed, both have no symptoms.