DKI Health Office Has Not Confirmed 5 DKI Athletes Exposed To New Variants, Wait For Genome Sequence Results

Illustrations (Photo: Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - Head of the Disease Control Prevention (P2P) Division of the DKI Jakarta Health Service, Dwi Oktavia, said that the case of COVID-19 that afflicted five DKI Jakarta athletes at PON XX Papua could not be confirmed as a new variant.

The reason, said Dwi, is that the variant can only be known after examining the genome sequence, which currently only has the central government's inspection tool.

"So now the samples are sent for genome sequence examination to find out the variants," said Dwi when confirmed in Jakarta, Antara, Tuesday, October 5.

Whatever variant of COVID-19 suffered by DKI Jakarta athletes, the treatment provided remains the same as for COVID-19 cases in general, namely isolation and intensive care.

"In principle, the treatment or management of patients is the same, namely those who meet standards, care that is in accordance with medical conditions," said Dwi.

It is known, five athletes from DKI Jakarta who competed in PON XX Papua were declared exposed to COVID-19. Three athletes from judo and basketball were declared exposed in Timika, while two athletes competing in Jayapura were from softball and roller skating.

DKI Jakarta Contingent Doctor Coordinator Junaidi said that athletes in Jayapura were isolated in private hospitals and athletes in Timika underwent isolation at RSUD Timika.

Junaidi said that the exposed DKI athletes obtained a low cycle threshold value (CT Value). Junaidi is worried that they will be exposed to a new variant.

"The CT, so we in Papua are suspicious, including the Papua Health Service, there is a new variant here because we see from the lowest CT," he said.

PON Papua is known to compete in 56 sports. A total of 6,442 athletes participated in the most prestigious sporting event in Indonesia.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) officially opened the PON event which was held for the first time on Cenderawasih Earth. PON Papua will last until October 15.