No Local Transmission of Omicron Variant: Ministry

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Health Ministry spokesperson Siti Nadia Tarmizi said that there has been no local transmission of the Omicron variant. Siti made the statement following the discovery of the first confirmed patient of the new Covid-19 variant.

The reason, said Nadia, is because the patient, who is a janitor at Wisma Atlet Kemayoran, lives in employees' residential flat. Therefore chances for the virus to spread widely is considered very small.

"He lives in the employees' flat at the Covid-19 Emergency Hospital (RSDC) Wisma Atlet Kemayoran," Nadia told Tempo on Friday, December 17. "Local transmission definitely has not happened."

Over the past few week, the Wisma Atlet Kemayoran has used several of its towers as quarantine accommodation for international travelers.

The janitor, N, is suspected to have contracted the new variant of Covid-19 from a traveler who quarantined there. The Health Ministry is now tracing the patient's close contacts and tracking the people he had interacted with. 

The Health Ministry is currently studying the genetic codes of five positive cases to determine whether they are indeed of the Omicron variant.

These five probable cases are individuals with overseas travel histories. One had been in the US and the Netherlands, one from the UK, and three from China. The infected individuals are now being isolated, two in Wisma Atlet Kemayoran and three in a quarantine facility in Manado.

The government is isolating at the Wisma Atlet Kemayoran for the next seven days to prevent local transmission of the Omicron variant.

Read: Omicron Variant; Jakarta Urged to Look to Health Protocols of Other Countries

Dewi Nurita