Mayor of Bandung: The Spike In COVID-19 Cases Is Due To Omicron

Acting Mayor of Bandung, Yana Mulyana. ANTARA/Good Ahmad Rizaldi

BANDUNG - The Bandung City Government stated that the spike in active COVID-19 cases that occurred this February was the spread of the Omicron variant.

The Mayor of Bandung, Yana Mulyana, said that from several confirmed COVID-19 people who were followed up with Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) testing, the results were 80 percent positive with the Omicron variant.

"So we have concluded that the spread of COVID-19 in the City of Bandung has the Omicron variant", Yana said at Bandung City Hall, West Java, quoted by Antara on Monday, February 7.

There are also currently in the city of Bandung there are recorded active cases of 1,802 people who have been confirmed to have COVID-19. From Tuesday, February 1 until now, every day there are more cases of more than 100 people.

Therefore, Bandung Mayor appealed to the public to continue to be disciplined in implementing health protocols. At the very least, he said, residents must be disciplined in the use of masks.

With the spike in cases, according to him, the Bandung City Government will also intensify surveillance in crowded centers to remind residents about implementing health protocols.

"At least use masks in places when people are active outside their homes, and God willing, we will prepare masks if there is a reason they don't have masks", said Yana.

Meanwhile, the Head of Disease Control and Prevention at the Bandung City Health Office, Rosye Arosdiani, said that of the 23 samples tested by WGS, 20 samples were confirmed by Omicron.

"From the epidemiologist, we conclude that it is like that, there are a lot of Omicron circulating. That explains why the cases are rising so fast", said Rosye.