Deputy Minister Of Health Dante Says Mu's Variant Has Not Been Detected In Indonesia

Deputy Minister of Health Dante Saksono Harbuwono/ Antara

JAKARTA - Deputy Minister of Health Dante Saksono Harbuwono said that the Mu variant of the corona virus had not been detected in Indonesia.

"We have done genome sequencing of 7,000 people throughout Indonesia and no Mu variant has been detected," Dante said at a press conference monitored online in Jakarta, reported by Antara, Monday, September 6.

He said the Mu variant of COVID-19 occurred in Colombia, in the laboratory the Mu variant has resistance to the vaccine.

"But, that's in a laboratory context, not in an epidemiological context," he said.

According to him, the longer the pandemic lasts and cases develop, the virus will continue to mutate and modify.

He expects the Mu variant to be abortive as well as the Lambda variant that happened some time ago in Peru.

"We have just experienced the delta variant, now there is a Mu variant. Hopefully this will be abortive, as was the Lambda variant some time ago in Peru," he said.

On that occasion, Dante said the current decline in COVID-19 cases in Indonesia was an opportunity to strengthen medical resilience in the country.

"The decline in cases in our area does not make us complacent, but this is the time for us to strengthen medical resilience," Dante said at a press conference monitored online in Jakarta, Monday.

He assessed that strengthening medical resilience was important because in several countries, such as the United States, Britain, and Israel, cases began to increase even though the vaccination rate was quite high.

Dante said that when there is a decline in cases like today, hospitals must make improvements to improve quality, optimize handling protocols again, and re-evaluate COVID-19 treatment properly.

"So, in the future if we handle severe cases, we will get a better protocol," he said.