There Have Been No Cases Of COVID-19 Arcutrus In Jakarta, Health Office: People Don't Need To Panic

COVID-19 antigen rapid test at the NTB Health and Calibration Laboratory Center in Mataram, NTB, Tuesday 22 December 2020.(ANTARA-Ahmad Subaidi)

JAKARTA - Head of the Epidemiological Surveillance and Immunization Section of the DKI Jakarta Provincial Health Office, Ngabila Salama, revealed that the subvariant COVID-19 Arcturus in the capital city was COVID-19.

This type of COVID-19 XBB.1.16 has been detected in a number of countries, namely the United States, Brunei Darussalam, and Singapore. In fact, arctrurus caused a significant increase in corona cases in India.

"From the results of routine genome sequencing examinations, XBB.1.16 has not been found in Jakarta," Ngabila told reporters, Thursday, March 30.

Even if they ask the public not to panic. "The conditions in Jakarta are very under control even though there is an increase in cases, not accompanied by an increase in deaths and treatment in hospitals. This is a sign that COVID-19 is under control," he continued.

Nevertheless, Ngabila emphasized that the longcovid threat should not be underestimated. Preventing pain, according to him, is the best by wearing masks in very crowded places, public transportation, and if you are sick.

"Avoid meeting people who are sick," he said.

On the other hand, Ngabila also advised the public to immediately vaccinate the 4th dose for ages 18 years and over while it is available and free. Currently, the vaccine brands available are Pfizer, Inavac, Indovac.

"Pfizer can be given for ages 12 years and over. Inavac and Indovac are domestically made vaccines given for ages 18 years and over. Doses 1 and 2 can be different brands, dose 3 follows dose 4 and dose 4 follow dose 3 brands," he explained.

The Ministry of Health is currently increasing vigilance at all entrances to the country to anticipate the importation of the new variant of COVID-19 Arcturus.

"We immediately held an internal meeting, tightening the existing areas of infected countries," said Director General of Disease Prevention and Control (Dirjen P2P) of the Ministry of Health Maxi Rein Rondonuwu.

According to Maxi, for those with symptoms, health check procedures are carried out starting from quarantine, PCR swabs, and immediately being examined by Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS).

"I think any variant, every day we work at the Ministry of Health with friends at the relevant ministries guarding the entrance," he said.

Arcturus is a new subvariant of Omicron XBB 1.16 which was first identified from two samples in January 2023, 59 samples in February 2023, and 15 variant samples were found in March 2023 in India.

The Health Side page reports that India is one of the countries most commonly found cases of the Arcturus variant in the world, followed by the United States.

A number of symptoms arising from the Arcturus variant include fever and chills, cough, nasal congestion and runny nose, headache, muscle aches, and sore throat.