Ministry Of Health Researches Virus Mutations Potentially Carried By Indian Arrivals

The Kediri Immigration Officer delivers a foreigner from India who was deported for exceeding the residence permit Monday, November 9, 2020 ((Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for COVID-19 of the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that the identification of SARS-CoV-2 mutations that could potentially be brought by immigrants from India is still being handled intensively by the Health Research and Development Agency (Balitbangkes).

"We are doing 'whole-genome sequencing' of a number of Indian citizens who have tested positive for COVID-19. Maybe on Friday, April 30 (the results)," she said via text message, as reported by Antara, Tuesday, April 27. The whole-genome sequencing was investigated by Balitbangkes in collaboration with 17 laboratories in Indonesia.

The Ministry of Health has confirmed that 12 of the 127 Indian nationals who exodus to Indonesia, Wednesday, April 21, have tested positive for COVID-19.

According to Siti, a number of related parties in Indonesia are preparing to anticipate the entry of a new variant of COVID-19 from a number of countries including B117 from the UK, B1351 from South Africa, P1 from Brazil, and the double mutation variant B1617 in India which is thought to be more dangerous and quickly transmitted.

According to Siti Nadia, this condition raises concerns that there will be a very high increase in cases globally, thus encouraging the government to be more aggressive in anticipating this.

Previously, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin in a statement to reporters said that the wave of cases in India was influenced by virus mutations and relaxed enforcement of health protocols.

As a result, transmission reoccurred with new mutations and rose very high. This situation is a lesson for the Indonesian people to always be careful to observe the rate of transmission of COVID-19.

Budi said Indonesia is aggressively conducting Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) checks to find out more quickly the characteristics of the COVID-19 virus, so it is hoped that it can help reduce the rate of transmission and improving recovery.

Based on data from the Indonesian genomic surveillance network, it was reported that from January 2020 to March 2021, 1191 SARS-CoV-2 sequences had been examined. The results found that there were virus mutations in Europe.

The Minister of Health appealed to all people to be more vigilant by immediately vaccinating at the nearest vaccination center and continuing to adhere to health protocols.

"We must always be careful, we must accelerate the vaccination program and implement health protocols to ensure that by the time the variant of covern B117 is getting larger in portions, we are ready," he said.

Budi added, in connection with the spike in COVID-19 cases that occurred in India, the government had taken quick steps to anticipate the entry of virus mutations into Indonesia by strengthening genomic surveillance at national entrances, both land, sea, and air.

For Indonesian citizens who have visited India in the past 14 days, said Budi, Indonesia is still allowed to return on the condition that they must undergo a 14-day quarantine and two PCR swab tests at the beginning and end of the quarantine.

In addition to anticipating the spread of virus mutations, Budi said, the government is also preparing to face a spike in COVID-19 cases which are expected to start increasing in a number of areas.

"Since the holidays two weeks ago, this week on average there has been a slight increase. This is our common duty, don't repeat what happened in India. It is better for us to be vigilant from the start,” he said.

Budi again appealed to all people to remember and be aware of the threat of COVID-19 to always apply the 3M health protocol in every line of life so that the trend of decreasing cases and increasing cases of recovery can be maintained properly.

"We are grateful that Indonesia's confirmed cases and those treated in the hospital are decreasing considerably compared to the beginning of the year. This decline should not make us complacent, we must remain vigilant by implementing health protocols according to the PPKM Mikro," said the Minister of Health.