Ministry Of Health: Delta Variant Spreads Almost Evenly In Indonesia

ILLUSTRATION/UNSPLASH

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Vaccination of the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, reported that the Delta variant has spread almost evenly in all regions in Indonesia based on the results of the specimen study.

"The Delta variant dominates 86 percent of the specimens sequenced in the last 60 days, coming from 24 provinces, so it can be said that this distribution is almost evenly distributed throughout Indonesia," said Siti Nadia as quoted by Antara, Sunday, August 1.

Nadia said the network of genomic sequencing laboratories or genomic sequencing methods to map virus mutations under the command of the Health Research and Development Agency (Litbangkes) continues to explore the pattern of distribution of the COVID-19 virus variant in Indonesia.

From early 2021 to July 28, said Nadia, Indonesia has reported 3,651 genome sequencing results into a global database. It is noted in it, three of the four variants of the coronavirus to watch out for, namely the Alpha, Beta, and Delta variants.

According to Nadia, the report deserves mutual attention, considering the potential for transmission of the new coronavirus in Indonesia is still very high.

To suppress the spread of COVID-19, said Nadia, the government is strengthening testing and tracing, especially in densely populated settlements.

The tracing mechanism also uses the Silacak software system to make it easier to find out the patient's close contacts. Residents who are in close contact will be directed to quarantine.

Nadia added that the government is committed to increasing the volume of testing from around 300 thousand to 500 thousand tests per day.

"We are also accelerating vaccines to increase the body's immunity. Vaccination also reduces the risk of contracting, suffering from serious illness, and even the risk of death from patients infected with COVID-19," he said.

Nadia also asked for public participation and awareness in helping to inhibit, even cut off the transmission of the virus by complying with health protocols.

"As a measure to prevent the spread, people who are detected as positive cases are expected to immediately report to local officials so that they can be monitored and linked to health access," he said.

Nadia said the trend of adding cases was still high with an average of 40 thousand cases per day and there were no areas that were sterile from COVID-19. Meanwhile, the potential for transmission of the Delta variant is very high and is one of the factors that increase the mortality rate.