Again, Health Ministry Detects Two New Omicron Cases in Indonesia

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Health Ministry has again detected two patients infected with the Omicron variant in the country, thereby bringing the total case count until Friday to three, according to the ministry's official.

"The two most recent patients are a male patient, with the initials IKWJ, 42, who traveled from South America and another male patient, with the initials M, 50, who traveled from England. Currently, both are undergoing quarantine at Wisma Atlet," stated spokesperson for COVID-19 Vaccination Siti Nadia Tarmizi in a written statement on Saturday.

Tarmizi remarked that the two patients were detected following the results of an examination of samples from five likely Omicron cases wherein the sufferers had recently returned from abroad.

The first patient infected with Omicron was confirmed on Thursday and had the initials N. He is a janitor at Wisma Atlet Kemayoran.

The findings were obtained from the results of a special "S-gene target failure" (SGTF) examination conducted by the Health Research and Development Agency on December 14-15, 2021.

Both patients were confirmed to have contracted Omicron after undergoing mandatory quarantine for 10 days following their return from abroad.

Tarmizi noted that such strict quarantine showed that the protection system, sought by the government to prevent transmission from COVID-19 sufferers coming from abroad, was running well.

Following the discovery of two new cases, Tarmizi appealed to the public to remain vigilant and to not travel abroad, given the high rate of spread of the variant.

"Indonesia is one of the safest countries in terms of COVID-19. If we leave the country, then we will get out of the safe zone to the dangerous one. If we return to our country, the potential for infection with Omicron and transmitting it in Indonesia will disrupt the situation," she stated.

The number of cases of COVID-19 in several countries in Europe, Africa, and America are currently on a sharp rise to reach a record along with the spread of the Omicron variant, with a transmission rate five times faster than the Delta variant.

In May and June 2021, Indonesia recorded the highest count of COVID-19 transmission due to the Delta variant, thereby making this situation more challenging for medical personnel at health facilities.

The government forecasts the return of Indonesian citizens, who are currently abroad, while those, who will travel abroad, will peak in the first and second weeks of January 2022 along with the end of the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Read: Covid-19 Task Force: Janitors Have Risks of Omicron Infection

ANTARA