5 Residents Exposed To Omicron, Riau Islands Health Office Reports Local Transmission Has Occurred In Batam

Head of the Riau Islands Health Service, Mohammad Bisri, Thursday (ANTARA)

RIAU - The Riau Islands Province Health Service reported that there had been a local transmission of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Batam City after five of its citizens were declared probable Omicron based on the S-gene Target Failure (SGTF) PCR examination.

"There has been a local transmission," said Head of the Riau Islands Health Service, Mohammad Bisri, in Batam, Antara, Thursday, January 27.

Of the five Batam residents who were declared exposed to the Omicron variant of COVID-19, there were indeed those who had just returned from a trip out of town. However, many of them did not go to other areas, so it was judged that local transmission had occurred.

"There are contacts with people who have just returned from Jakarta, some have just traveled from Jakarta," he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Batam City Health Office, Didi Kusmarjadi, also said that there had been local transmission of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Batam.

"Of the five people, one of them traveled from outside the city, then three here, infected inside," he said.

Two of the five people detected as exposed to Omicron were from the same COVID-19 cluster. However, he did not confirm it was an Omicron cluster.

"The source of the infection was not detected by Omicron, these two people actually tested positive for the Omicron variant. It is called a cluster if there is a parent. We are trying to re-examine the transmitter," he said.

Meanwhile, all city residents who were detected with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 are now being treated at the Galang Island Special Hospital for Infection to prevent further transmission in the community.

He said that since the COVID-19 case increased in Batam, the government had reopened the integrated COVID-19 isolation at the local Hajj hostel and Galang Island Hospital. According to him, the five residents were suffering from mild and asymptomatic symptoms.