JAKARTA - The Chair of the SARS-CoV-2 Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) Team of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Sugiyono Saputra said it was most likely that the spike in COVID-19 cases in Indonesia was caused by the delta variant.
"If you look at the GISAID data, namely the SARS-CoV-2 genome data that has been sequenced and identified over the last three weeks, more than 95 percent are delta variants and the rest are alpha variants and local Indonesian variants," said Sugiyono, quoted by Antara, Saturday. , July 17th.
Sugiyono said that from research conducted at the Bio Safety Level (BSL) 3 LIPI laboratory, by taking samples for eight days starting from June 10-18, 2021, it was found that almost 100 percent were the delta variant.
"Based on existing data, it is proven that the spike in cases in Indonesia was caused by exposure to the delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus," said Sugiyono.
Since the last few weeks, COVID-19 cases in Indonesia have experienced a very significant spike. In fact, in the span of July 2-15, 2021, the total addition of positive cases of COVID-19 reached 523,695 cases.
On July 11, 2021, Indonesia was recorded as the country with the highest number of deaths in the world, reaching 1,007 people in one day. The outbreak of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia is suspected to be a new variant of the delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which was first discovered in India.
According to Sugiyono, the main factor that causes the delta variant to be so dangerous and its spread is very massive is because the characteristics of the delta variant have a very high transmission rate compared to other variants.
"The genetic material found in the delta variant has characters that can reduce the effectiveness of vaccinations and drug therapies that are currently being carried out," he said.
Sugiyono said that based on data obtained from the UK, the delta variant is highly correlated with an increase in the number of hospital occupancy. This means that this variant has an effect on the severity of the condition of COVID-19 patients.
According to him, COVID-19 cases in Indonesia are not only caused by the delta variant. Based on the research conducted, a new variant from Indonesia was also found, namely the B.1.466 variant.
Sugiyono said that before the delta variant entered Indonesia, a new variant from Indonesia dominated COVID-19 cases in Indonesia.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warns Indonesia to continue to monitor local variants, because genetically these variants are able to increase transmission or transmission in the community. In addition, these variants can also cause a decrease in the effectiveness of vaccines and drug therapy.
"However, until now, there is no scientific evidence related to epidemiological effects or scientific evidence that shows the direct effect of the mutation that occurs. Currently, there are not many local variants, and so far the delta variant is more dangerous," said Sugiyono.
Since the COVID-19 research was conducted in Indonesia, for more than a year more than 10 variants of COVID-19 have been found. However, the variants of concern are the delta, alpha, and the variants of interest, namely gamma.
"Although the world is currently shocked by the new variants of COVID-19, namely the gamma and lamda variants, we have not found these variants in Indonesia according to data from GISAID," said Sugiyono.
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