There Are Batam Residents Who Canceled Their Pick-up Team For Jokowi In Bintan Due To The Detection Of The Omicron Variant

President Joko Widodo with a number of ministers at The Sanchaya Resort Bintan, Bintan Regency (Photo: BPMI Setpres/Muchlis Jr)

JAKARTA - Five residents of Batam City, Riau Islands, were detected as being exposed to the Omicron variant of COVID-19 based on an examination conducted by the local Environmental Health and Disease Control Engineering Center (BTKLPP).

"The latest development on Thursday morning, five Batam residents were exposed to the Omicron variant of COVID-19", said Head of the Batam City Health Service, Dr. Didi Kusmarjadi, in Batam on Thursday, January 27.

He explained that of the five residents detected by Omicron, four of them had received treatment at the Galang Island Special Hospital for Infection (RSKI), while another was being evacuated to RSKI.

"The four people, just so positive without the results of the Omicron coming out, have been sent to RSKI", he said.

Meanwhile, another person is a Batam resident who was confirmed positive for COVID-19 during a health check to join President Joko Widodo's pick-up team in Bintan, earlier this week.

Because he was confirmed positive for COVID-19, he said, the resident could not join the President's team and returned to Batam to undergo self-isolation at his residence.

"The person concerned was sent back to Batam, without notification to us, so we don't know there are positive cases that were examined in Bintan, so they didn't evacuate to RSKI", he said.

After finding out about Omicron, he said, the team immediately looked for his residence and evacuated him to the Galang Island Hospital. Meanwhile, of the five residents, one of them had just returned from a trip out of town. The other four are local transmission.

On that occasion, the Head of the Service asked residents not to worry too much about the spread of Omicron in Batam.

"The symptoms are mild, or asymptomatic. Just because it's so easily contagious, that's what worries me", said Didi Kusmarjadi.