Expert Talks About New Covid-19 Strain and PPKM Effectiveness
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15 September 2021 07:47 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Griffith University epidemiologist Dicky Budiman in a webinar on the pandemic warned about the potential emergence of a number of new mutating Covid-19 strains that could pose more danger compared to the delta variant, suggesting people not to put their guard down.
One new strain recently discovered is the C.1.2 found in South Africa in May, which he said consists of the alpha, beta, delta, and gamma variants.
“This new variant can potentially defeat the delta,” said Dicky on Tuesday, September 14, Antaranews reported.
The epidemiologist also warned the government to take extra precautions upon preventing the entry of the new coronavirus variants into Indonesia, apart from preparing society to live alongside the virus as the pandemic is still ongoing.
Moreover, he deemed the government enactment of public activity restriction (PPKM) is on the right track on controlling transmission rate. “The implementation of PPKM does not kill the economy, except once level 4 is enacted,” he said.
During the same webinar, Jakarta health agency’s head of epidemiology surveillance and immunization Ngabila Salama asserts no experts currently can predict when the pandemic will end and said the local government is preparing people to live safely alongside the virus, while also accelerating the Covid-19 mass vaccination in the process.
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