3 Omicron Cases in Indonesia with Traces to 250 Close Contacts; 10 Infections
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21 December 2021 12:34 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Health Ministry traced the contacts of three Covid-19 cases of the Omicron variant. The ministry's direct infectious disease prevention and control director, Siti Nadia Tarmizi said, said they had tracked down 250 close contacts.
"From that, we found 10 people who tested positive for Covid-19," she told Tempo on Tuesday, December 21.
The ministry is now conducting whole genome sequencing to find out whether those cases are of the variant.
Nadia had said that the tracing by done by taking samples from a number of passengers on the plane, as the three Omicron cases were imported ones.
The first case of the Omicron variant is a janitor at Wisma Atlet Kemayoran. The Health Ministry has confirmed that the janitor contracted it from an Indonesian who returned from Nigeria on 27 November and was quarantined at Wisma Atlet.
The other two are also imported cases. The patients have been traveling to South America and England. Both are currently undergoing quarantine at the Wisma Atlet.
"This proves that all Omicron cases in Indonesia are imported cases," Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said yesterday.
Read: Govt Keen on Preventing People Traveling Abroad Amid Omicron Spread
DEWI NURITA
