Ministry Of Health Claims Policy On Overseas Travelers To Indonesia Is Enough To Prevent New Variants Of COVID-19 BA.4-BA.5

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JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health emphasized that the current policy for Overseas Travelers (PPLN) is sufficient to prevent the new variant of COVID-19 from spreading, after the discovery of the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.

Secretary of the Directorate General of Public Health of the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, in a speech entitled "Avoiding Mutant Viruses with Booster Vaccines," said that genome sequencing is one thing we must do to monitor the potential for new variants to occur.

Nadia was quoted by Antara, Monday, June 13, saying that by reviewing several indicators, the transmission of the new variant of COVID-19 from PPLN was still relatively low, compared to the situation one month after the big day celebrations.

In addition, the government has been wary of and aware of new variants, learning from other countries such as the BA.4 variant in several countries, and BA.5 where there is potential for an increase in foreign travel agents.

His party continues to monitor the condition and until now because of the increase in cases or potential that we find in the travellers, and then the symptoms.

If the symptoms experienced by PPLN are not severe, by self-isolation, PPLN can recover from COVID-19.

"With this condition, we feel that our policy, including with travellers, is still sufficient. It is enough by completing the complete dose, upon arrival there are no complaints of fever, then the person concerned or the traveler can continue the journey. But we still pay attention to the health condition, if it is felt It's not good to immediately do the test," said Nadia.