Indonesia Procures Special PCR Kits to Detect Omicron Variant
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10 December 2021 19:46 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Boyolali - Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono said the government had purchased special kits of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to detect the new coronavirus variant, B.1.1.529, or the Omicron variant.
“We apply a new method [to detect Omicron] using a special PCR test called SGTF (S-gene target failure),” said Dante in Boyolali, Central Java on Friday, December 10.
The test kit is able to discover and identify the new variant and speed up the testing process.
“We have already had 30 kits. One kit consists of 124 units, so we have more than 3,000 units to identify Omicron by not using WGS, but rather RNA,” he explained.
Dante confirmed that the government had not yet detected COVID-19 cases of the Omicron variant across the archipelago.
“Even though there are no cases yet, we remain vigilant and tighten the identification, especially in the country’s entrance area, either via land, sea, or air. For all PCR tests that turn back positive, [we carry out] genome sequencing [to unveil the virus variant,” he said.
Read: No Omicron Infections Detected Yet, Says COVID-19 Task Force
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