Krasen Variant COVID-19 CLOSE Contacts, 1 Jakarta Resident And 2 South Kalimantan Residents Stated Negative

Illustration. Health check of passenger COVID-19 screening at the airport. (ANTARA-doc Public Relations Angkasa Pura)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) ensures that three residents who have close contact with the Omicron Subvariant XBB.1.5 or Kraken in Indonesia are all negative.

"Tracing contacts have been made and all contacts are negative," said Head of the Communication and Public Service Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, who was confirmed, Thursday, January 26, as quoted by Antara.

He said close contact screening was carried out on one DKI Jakarta resident and two residents of South Kalimantan (Kalsel).

According to Nadia, the case of Kraken reported in Indonesia until now has only been experienced by one case experienced by Polish travelers in Balikpapan on January 11, 2023.

"These patients have mild cough symptoms. After self-isolation for eight days, they have been negative," he said.

Confirmed separately, health science expert who is also the Postgraduate Director of YARSI University Prof. Tjandra Yoga Aditama encouraged the relevant authorities to increase case supervision after Kraken's findings in Indonesia.

"WHO has stated that XBB.1.5 has so far been the most contagious form of Omicron," he said.

On the other hand, said Tjandra, WHO also stated that there was no scientific evidence that Kraken caused more severe disease.

"Of course this is still the initial phase of its emergence and we will see its development in the future," he said.

According to Tjandra, there is also the possibility that Kraken can evade immunity that has now been formed, either due to vaccines or natural infections.

Tjandra recommends wearing masks back in risky circumstances, for example in an airplane.

Kraken's development, according to Tjandra, needs to be watched out for by detecting possible cases with PCR tests and Whole Genome Sequencing examinations.

He also encourages intensive contact tracing, because it is more contagious.

"Try to provide a relevant bivalent vaccine for the old and also Omicron variants," he said.