New Variants Of COVID 19 Kraken Entering Indonesia Detectioned In Balikpapan, Menkes Tracing CLOSE Contacts

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin

Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin said his party was tracing the close contact of a COVID-19 patient, the Kraken variant that had entered Indonesia, was detected in Balikpapan.

"Now we are in close contact anywhere," he said after attending the opening of the National Coordination Meeting for Handling COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery (PC PEN), quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, January 26.

He explained that COVID-19 patients with the Kraken variant were found in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. The patient is also known to have traveled to Jakarta.

He emphasized that patients with the Kraken variant were immediately detected by the government because the surveillance or reconnaissance methods in Indonesia were quite good.

"Now we are doing surveillance. That just came in. We immediately know, so indeed our surveillance system is already good," he said.

Kraken is a 19-derivative variant of COVID from Omicron. The Ministry of Health detected Kraken after performing genome sequencing or a method used to sequentiate genomes in organisms, such as bacteria, viruses, and humans.

Budi emphasized that with the entry of the Kraken variant into Indonesia, people are advised not to panic. People are also advised to wear masks if they are in crowded rooms or in unhealthy conditions.

In addition, he said, community immunity in Indonesia is relatively good.

"We hope that the survey series will come out in February 2023. As long as our population is good, especially for parents who have comorbidities, the immunity is still high. God willing, if there is a variant, it can only be handled," he said.

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin acknowledged that Kraken transmission was fast. However, Kraken is classified as a weak variant.

"What does that mean? Hospitality is not high," he said.