Minister Of Health Reveals 6 Cases Of Local Transmission Of The Omicron Variant In Indonesia, Residents Are Asked To Be Alert

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JAKARTA - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said there have been 152 cases of COVID-19, the Omicron variant, detected in Indonesia. Of these, six of them are transmission or local transmission.

The purpose of local transmission is the transmission that occurs even though the patient is not a traveler from abroad.

"We have managed to stop Omicron from entering, but from 152 (cases, ed) we know that six are local transmissions," Budi said in a press conference broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube, Monday, January 3.

Budi explained that the local transmission did not only occur in DKI Jakarta but also in a number of big cities in Indonesia. However, he did not elaborate further on the distribution.

"Most of them are in Jakarta, but there are also those who come from Medan and also from Bali and Surabaya," said the former Deputy Minister of SOEs.

Budi said this Omicron variant has not actually been reported to make it worse for patients. He also said the hospitalization rate and the fatality rate for those exposed were also low.

Even so, the Minister of Health still asked the public to continue to apply strict health protocols so that they are not exposed to COVID-19, especially the Omicron variant. "We must always be vigilant," said Budi.

"The good news is that for the clinical case of Omicron, although the antibody protection from the vaccine can be passed, the protection from the T-cells can still protect quite well. That explains the lower hospitalization rate, which includes hospitalization and fatalities," he concluded.