Good News, The Government Believes They Can Suppress Transmission Of The Omicron Variant

JAKARTA - This is good news in the midst of soaring positive cases of COVID-19 in the country. The government is confident that it can suppress the transmission of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

This belief was conveyed by the Secretary of the Directorate General of Public Health who is also the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi. This belief is because the government continues to monitor the trend and pattern of the spread of the virus.

"The strategy is no different, but now we are more confident, because we learned yesterday with the Delta variant, which also spreads quickly," said Nadia in a webinar, Thursday, February 24, as reported by Antara.

Nadia continued, the government also sees developments and steps taken by other countries. So, he said, the government increasingly understands the transmission pattern of COVID-19, especially the Omicron variant.

According to Nadia, handling COVID-19 requires efforts from upstream to downstream. Upstream, these efforts can be carried out through early detection, education for the community, and taking preventive measures through the application of health protocols. Meanwhile, downstream, is through the transformation of health services prepared by the Ministry of Health.

When compared with the Delta variant in mid-2021, which peaked at 56.000 cases, Nadia said the government saw an increasing trend of cases of the Omicron variant, which had already touched 64.700 in mid-February 2022.

Nadia continued, that in the Delta variant wave, the daily death rate can reach 2.500 cases, while in the Omicron variant the death rate is much lower at 180.

"I agree that one life is valuable. Although the death rate is much lower, but at least we should be able to save even one life," said Nadia.

In terms of hospital care occupancy, the Delta variant wave can reach 60 percent nationally, while currently, it is at 30 percent. So, according to Nadia, the withdrawal of the emergency brake is not necessary.

"However, the government continues to impose mobility restrictions and level three of community activity restrictions (PPKM), while continuing to accelerate vaccination, testing, and tracing," Nadia added.

However, Nadia also reminded that Indonesia must remain prepared and alert for the arrival of the third wave after seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases.

"We see that with the increasing number of local transmissions of the Omicron variant, this has triggered an increase in COVID-19 cases," she said.