Good News From The Minister Of Health Budi! End Of January, Indonesia Has Early Detector Of Omicron, Faster And Cheaper Than Genome Sequencing

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin (Photo: DOK ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the production of the S-Gene Target Failure (SGTF) or PCR test that can detect the virus in 4-6 hours as an early indication of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 will be completed by the end of January 2022.

"Now we have prepared it, hopefully the production can be finished by the end of this month and we will distribute it," said Budi Gunadi Sadikin while attending the Hearing Meeting (RDP) which was attended by YouTube Commission IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives in Jakarta, Antara, Tuesday, January 18. .

Budi said the SGTF tool is a quick test solution for Omicron indications in Indonesia following the use of genome sequencing tools that are relatively expensive and require longer results, which range from six to seven days.

"The genome sequencing is only available in 12 laboratories and one test for one reagent costs Rp. 5 million to Rp. 6 million," he said.

Budi said the report of the relatively long genome sequencing results was due to the number of specialized genome sequencing laboratories in Indonesia totaling 12 units with 15 units of test kits.

Meanwhile, the use of PCR test kits costs around Rp. 300 thousand per sample with the number of examination laboratories reaching 1,100 units in Indonesia.

"Now the question is, do we want to use genome sequencing? Actually, it doesn't need to be epidemiologically," he said.

He said the genome sequencing method was needed to see the pattern of the spread of the COVID-19 variant and make early prevention efforts.

"We used genome sequencing at the beginning to see the pattern of distribution, but if later everything is like Delta, then just use a PCR bag," he said.

Budi added that the COVID-19 detection method using both antigen and PCR tests was still effective.

"But PCR is still better because it is the gold standard. Both confirmed antigen and PCR can still detect the COVID-19 virus regardless of its variant," he said.

However, to separate the Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma, or Omicron variants, it is necessary to distinguish them using a genome sequencing tool.

"But still, because now we use heavy sequencing genomes, now there is a variation of the PCR test called SGTF that can detect certain unique mutations such as Omicron," he said.