Jakarta (ANTARA) - Genomic surveillance has been increased in all regions to monitor the Arcturus or XBB.1.16, a new variant of COVID-19, Head of the Communication and Public Services Bureau of the Health Ministry Siti Nadia Tarmizi has informed.
She said here on Friday that considering previous experiences during the three years of the COVID-19 outbreak, new variants of COVID-19 are always discovered by examining samples of exposed people, hence genomic surveillance has become very important. Thus, her party has strengthened surveillance at the district and city level in collaboration with local Health Offices.
"For instance, if there is an increase in people suffering from cough and colds in an area, moreover, if there are many fatalities, our surveillance (team) will immediately visit the area to review the incident and conduct epidemiological research,” she informed.
The Health Ministry official said that even if the area only experiences a small increase in positive cases, her party would still examine the cause of the increase to prevent the potential transmission of the new variant. In addition to monitoring the transmission of the new variant, she said that her party is focusing on reviewing the mortality rate per day. "We will continue to co-exist with COVID-19 until it is declared (by the World Health Organization) that the virus has vanished,” Tarmizi remarked.
She then appealed to the public to stay vigilant as the transmission of the virus is still on. “If the number of exposed people with heavy (COVID-19) symptoms who get treated in the hospital is still the same as the number of patients of other diseases, we do not need to worry (since that would mean that the number of COVID-19 patients is still normal,” she noted.
According to the latest genomic surveillance results, the Arcturus variant has not been detected in Indonesia so far. The new COVID-19 variant has been reported to have caused a spike in cases in India currently.
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Earlier, director general of disease prevention and control of the ministry, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, said that the government has increased surveillance at all of Indonesia’s entrance points to anticipate the import of the Arcturus variant.
"We immediately held an internal meeting to improve monitoring in various areas where (many) people from infected countries (are expected to visit)," he added. Travelers found to have COVID-19 symptoms will undergo a medical examination, including quarantine, PCR swab test, and Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) examination.