Ministry of Health Says Covid-19 New Variant Not Found in Indonesia

Jakarta, MINA – The Ministry of Health states that until now the mutation of the coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2 that causes Covid-19 has not been found in Indonesia.

It was conveyed following reports from the Governments of Great Britain and Northern Ireland regarding the new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus VUI 202012/01.

“The mutation of the SARS-Cov-2 virus, which we call VUI 202012/01, has yet to be found in Indonesia,” said the Director of Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases of the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmidzi, in a virtual interactive dialogue on Friday, as quoted from Republika.

He said the new variant virus had major changes marked by 17 unique mutations in certain genes. Meanwhile, the results of genetic tracing on 125 SARS-CoV-2 Indonesia viruses published on the official GISAID website, did not find 17 unique mutations.

However, said Nadia, the absence of a new variant of the virus did not mean that Indonesia was not aware of this mutation. Indonesia carries out surveillance and ensures that this mutation is continuously monitored by 12 laboratories that carry out screening for specimens from Covid-19.

“Apart from that, related to the restriction of entry points to the country, it is our effort to limit this virus mutation from happening,” said Nadia.

He said this new variant virus is likely to cause faster transmission. However, there is no evidence that this new variant of the virus causes malignancy or severity in patients infected with the corona virus that causes Covid-19.

“Indeed, it can be said that there is a possibility that this virus causes faster transmission but it has not been proven to cause whether this virus mutation will cause the disease to become more severe,” explained Nadia.

The SARS-Cov-2 virus in Indonesia that has been successfully sequenced at the Ministry of Health’s Research and Development Agency comes from West Java, East Jawatt, DKI Jakarta, Banten, South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Sumatra, and Papua. Genetic tracing results on 125 Indonesian SARS-CoV-2 viruses published by GISAID at this time, did not find 17 unique mutations. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)