Ministry Of Health Finds Again Four New Variant Cases Of COVID-19

ILLUSTRATION/UNSPLASH

JAKARTA - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin revealed that there were new findings of four people who had contracted the new variant of COVID-19. The total number of cases of the new COVID-19 variant that entered Indonesia was 6 people.

"For the new variant from London, apart from the two yesterday, which we identified, we have found four more confirmed cases," Budi said in a Youtube broadcast of the Indonesian National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB), Monday, March 8.

There were four cases found in Palembang, South Sumatra on 11 January; one case in South Kalimantan on 6 January; one case in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan on January 12; and one case in Medan, North Sumatra on 28 January.

Budi said that these four cases had been tested and received positive results for COVID-19 with the results of genome sequencing for the new strain of COVID-19 B117 from England.

"Currently they have recovered and have come out (from isolation). For the follow-up, we are conducting surveillance of their close contacts and we are chasing them so that we can test," said Budi.

The government previously announced that there was a finding of a virus case with a new variant of type B117 entering Indonesia, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was one year old in Indonesia. This new case was found in Karawang residents who had just returned from abroad.

The spokesperson for the COVID-19 vaccination from the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, revealed the chronology of the detection of the new variant of the virus that causes COVID-19.

In February, swab samples were taken via Indonesian citizens who had just traveled from Saudi Arabia.

"In early February, swab samples were taken," said Nadia, Thursday, March 4.

He said the new variant of corona B117 was detected when Indonesian citizens followed the genome sequencing surveillance process. The surveillance itself is carried out by the government to check every sample of international travelers using polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

"So a new variant was discovered when we carried out genome sequencing surveillance on samples of travelers from Saudi Arabia," explained Nadia.

According to information, two cases of Corona B117 were found in residents with the initials M (40) and A (45). They arrived in Indonesia from Saudi Arabia at different times.