COVID-19 Task Force: No BA.4 Cases In Sukabumi Yet, Residents Still Must Be Alert Even After Boosters

JAKARTA – The trend of increasing COVID-19 cases has recently become a concern for the government. The Task Force (Satgas) for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19 in Sukabumi City, West Java, confirmed that so far no residents of Sukabumi City have been infected with COVID-19, the new subvariant Omicron variant, both BA.4 and BA.5.

"There have been fluctuations in the case of COVID-19 in Sukabumi City in the last few weeks, but from the results of examinations of all confirmed positive patients, no one has been found to have contracted Omicron subvariants BA.4 or BA.5," said a spokesman for the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19 Sukabumi City Wahyu Handriyana, citing Antara, Friday, July 23.

According to Wahyu, this does not mean that this subvariant Omicron will not enter the Sukabumi City area. Therefore, his party asks the public to take early prevention, especially those who travel outside the city, at least with the discipline of implementing health protocols.

He said, even though the majority of Sukabumi City residents had received vaccinations up to the third or booster dose, it didn't mean they couldn't catch the virus that first spread in Wuhan, China. It's just that those who have been vaccinated have much milder symptoms than those who have not been vaccinated when contracting COVID-19.

Therefore, this vaccine is very important for the body's immunity from this deadly virus attack. In addition, although the current case of COVID-19 in Sukabumi City has been very sloping, the public must remain vigilant because the virus can still attack anyone.

"Don't ignore the government's appeal regarding the use of masks when doing activities outside the home, especially in the center of crowds, crowds or continuing to do activities for residents whose rooms are closed or have minimal ventilation," he also said.

Wahyu also said that on Friday (22/7), his party noted that there were still nine residents who were confirmed positive for COVID-19 who were undergoing self-isolation or one less patient from the previous day, Thursday (21/7), the number of patients was 10.

The total from the beginning of 2022 was 3.120 patients, 3.104 patients have been declared cured, 9 patients are still undergoing self-isolation and seven patients have died. The majority of residents who contracted COVID-19 after traveling out of town in the area were experiencing an increase in COVID-19 cases.