Indonesia Detects New COVID-19 Variant from India, Health Minister Confirms

Translator

Dewi Elvia Muthiariny

Editor

Markus Wisnu Murti

Senin, 26 April 2021 16:56 WIB

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin gives a press statement regarding the arrival of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine upon arrival from Beijing at the Cargo Terminal at Soekarno Hatta Airport, Tangerang, Banten, Sunday, April 18, 2021. Millions of vaccines were then brought to Bio Farma Bandung before being distributed to cities and districts in Indonesia. ANTARA/Muhammad Iqbal

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin announced that a new variant of COVID-19 that reportedly triggered a spike in cases in India had been detected in Indonesia.

“Regarding the new virus mutation thought to be the first cause of hike in cases in India, it has also entered Indonesia. Ten people have been infected by that virus,” said Budi in an online press conference on Monday, April 26, 2021.

There are reportedly two new mutations attributable to the COVID-19 spike in India, viz. B117 and B1617. However, Budi stopped short of detailing which type infected the ten people.

The Health Ministry’s spokesperson for the COVID-19 vaccination, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said the virus mutation in question was the B117 variant. “Minister Budi said the B117 variant has been found yesterday,” said Nadia.

Budi explained that six of the ten people were imported cases and the rest were local transmission. “Two cases in Sumatra, one in West Java, and one in South Kalimantan,” he added.

Thus, he asked regional governments of Sumatra, West Java, and Kalimantan to be more vigilant in monitoring the entry of the new COVID-19 variant from India in a bid to prevent a spike in cases in the archipelago.

Read: Indonesian Immigration Denies Entry of 32 Indian Citizens at Soekarno-Hatta

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