Governor Wayan Koster Confirms No Omicron Case Has Been Found In Bali

Governor of Bali Wayan Koster/PHOTO of the Bali Provincial Government

DENPASAR - Bali Governor Wayan Koster confirmed that cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant have not been found on the island of Bali.

"There is not yet (omicron). So far, there is none," said Koster, Denpasar, Bali, Wednesday, January 5.

Koster also responded to the case of a Surabaya resident who was detected by Omicron after returning from the Island of the Gods, including the news that the President Director of PLN was exposed to COVID-19 after a visit to Bali. According to Koster, the two cases were not necessarily exposed to COVID-19 in Bali.

"It's possible that when he was in Bali he was still incubating. Actually, he didn't necessarily get it in Bali, he also got to when he left. Where did he come from, from Jakarta or from Surabaya but during that time there was still incubation, so when he came back a few days "It's still two weeks of incubation, he's not in Bali for two weeks," he said.

"There is no two weeks in Bali, less than two weeks. If he is infected in Surabaya, say on the 3rd (December), he is still tested negative because his incubation has not passed, he is still incubation. On the 4th (December) one week in Bali, let's say it was only a week on the 11th (December) he was still negative. But if he has been tested for two weeks, he is positive, not necessarily in Bali," said Koster.

Koster also said that the entry requirements to Bali were in accordance with the procedure with complete vaccination and negative antigen swab results. In addition, when there was a case of Omicron from Surabaya, hotel employees who were tested negative for COVID-19.

"For example, the Surabaya omicron came back positive from Bali. We traced it in Bali and then all (hotel employees) tested negative. Likewise, there were Russian guests who said they came from Jakarta and then came to Bali, the information was positive when they checked here, it was negative," said Koster.