Luhut Asks Regions to Conduct Testing Albeit Zero COVID-19 Case
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27 December 2021 13:32 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan said the government would strengthen COVID-19 testing and tracing in the country. He assessed that in the last few days, there was a decrease in the testing and tracing rate in a number of regions.
“Perhaps some regions have zero cases so they are reluctant to do testing. But we still urge them to conduct testing because most of 46 Omicron cases are OTG (asymptomatic cases),” said Luhut at a press conference, Monday, December 27.
Luhut asserted that testing and tracing are necessary to help identify the potential spread of the virus quickly and immediately isolate people who are infected to prevent it from spreading further.
“With strong testing and tracing, lockdown at the micro level as what we’ve done at Wisma Atlet can be implemented if local transmission of the Omicron variant is detected,” he said.
To date, Indonesia has logged 46 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant. Almost all of them, he said, were international travelers who returned from abroad and the rest were workers at Wisma Atlet quarantine center who were infected by the travelers.
Luhut also encouraged not to travel abroad unless for something urgent or emergency.
Read: Avoid Excessive Christmas, New Year Celebrations, Follow Health Protocols: Luhut
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