Pademangan Residents Positive For Omicron After Returning From Liberia, Had Quarantine At Hotel

PIXABAY ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - A resident of Pademangan, North Jakarta, tested positive for COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529 or Omicron after returning to the country from Liberia.

Head of UKP Implementation Unit for Menteng Sub-district Health Center, Jonathan Aditama, explained that initially, the patient returned to Indonesia on December 18.

"According to regulations, foreign travelers must quarantine 10 when entering Indonesia on 18 to 28. He chose to quarantine at the Fraser Hotel in Menteng", Jonathan said when contacted, Monday, January 10.

This patient was allowed to quarantine at the hotel because COVID-19 was not detected when he arrived in Indonesia. When he did the PCR again on the ninth day of the quarantine, the test results were still negative.

"After quarantine on the ninth day, his PCR swab came back negative. On the tenth day he returned to Pademangan, his home", Jonathan said.

A few days later, the patient developed symptoms of COVID-19. He also did a PCR swab and the results were positive. The specimens were also subjected to whole-genome sequencing (WGS) examination to detect the virus variant.

"After being sent to the lab for WGS, then on the 3rd (January) Omicron was detected positive", he said.

Currently, the Pademangan resident is being referred to the Wisma Atlet Kemayoran COVID-19 Emergency Hospital to undergo isolation.

As a follow-up, the Menteng Health Center conducted contact tracing and COVID-19 checks on the hotel staff where the Pademangan resident was undergoing quarantine.