It Turns Out That There Are Already 252 Cases Of Omicron "Siluman" BA.2 In Indonesia

JAKARTA - Secretary of the Directorate General of Public Health of the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that his party had detected hundreds of cases of COVID-19, the Omicron subvariant BA.2 variant. This variant is dubbed the stealth Omicron.

"Regarding the BA.2 variant, we have actually detected this variant. If we look at it, the number of BA.2 variants has now been detected around 252 cases," Nadia said in a virtual press conference, Tuesday, March 1.

Nadia revealed that the BA.2 variant is known to spread more quickly and also increases the severity.

However, from the current pattern of the spread of COVID-19 Omicron in Indonesia and the world, 90 percent is still dominated by the BA.1 subvariant.

Therefore, currently the government is still implementing a strategy of strengthening 3T, 3M, and vaccination to suppress the spread of COVID-19 cases.

"The key is that we are currently accelerating vaccination, both booster vaccination and primary vaccination, which we must complete as soon as possible," said Nadia.

It is known that the stealth Omicron subvariant was first detected in Indonesia on 27 January. The cause of the Omicron BA.2 subvariance is referred to as the stealth Omicron because it has a genetic trait that makes the SGTF PCR test difficult to identify that this is one type of Omicron variant.

However, said Nadia, the Omicron subvariant can still be detected by examination of whole genome sequencing (WGS). "Until now we can still use WGS to ensure this subvariant," said Nadia.

Separately, Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito, said that the Omicron BA.2 subvariant is of concern because it has mutations that can cause differences in PCR results.

In other Omicron subvariants, said Wiku, the presence of a mutation in the loss of a certain arrangement in the S gene can lead to the detection of other genes. However, the S gene was not detected or the S Gene Target Failure (SGTF) was detected on the PCR assay.

"In Omicron BA.2, this arrangement is not lost, so PCR does not produce SGTF results or the results are the same as other variants that are not Omicron. In fact, BA.2 is one type of Omicron," explained Wiku.

In principle, continued Wiku, it would take time to research the characteristics of the new variants that emerged and analyze their effects epidemiologically, including the four types of Omicron variants.

The four types are the initial Omicron variant, namely B.1.1.529, then its subvariants such as BA.1, BA.2, and BA.3. Currently, the four types are still in the research process. WHO also has not released a follow-up report.