Aceh Has Not Implemented Insulation Posts Anticipating Omicron Variants

Archives - Joint officers check the COVID-19 vaccine card in front of the entry lane blocking post for the red zone area, Lhokseumawe City, Aceh, Saturday (4/9/2021). (BETWEEN PHOTO/Rahmad/foc)

ACEH - The Aceh government has not yet taken a policy to activate blocking posts at every crossing and border area in an effort to anticipate the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Indonesia's westernmost province.

Head of Disease Prevention and Control (P2P) Aceh Health Service, Iman Cheapman, said that his party and related agencies in the local area had not taken steps to operate isolation posts at every crossing and border area, but prioritized vaccination and health protocols.

"We haven't activated it yet, because if the clusters have been detected, we will immediately check for close contacts so there is no need to isolate them first," said Iman in Banda Aceh, as reported by Antara, Friday, February 11. -19 has been sloping since the last few months. Only in the past week there have been new cases of COVID-19 adding more than 10 cases per day.

However, said Iman, the case was not the Omicron variant of COVID-19. The Aceh Research and Development Center has also just received reagents to detect the Omicron variant through the S-gene target failure (SGTF) method, so it takes several days for inspection.

"So that later we will examine the positive case (the Omicron variant) and this examination will take a long time, not the same as the PCR swab examination," said Iman.

Currently, he continued, the Aceh Government is still prioritizing the implementation of health protocols and accelerating COVID-19 vaccination, in an effort to anticipate the spread of the Omicron variant.

The acceleration of the COVID-19 vaccination is prioritized for the elderly and other vulnerable groups, considering that this variant is considered to be faster in transmission.

"If people have been vaccinated, let alone boosters, it will further reduce the transmission rate. Even if in the future cases increase, we will see from the side of severe symptoms not too many compared to the previous variant. So our efforts are health protocols and vaccinations," he said.