Omicron XBB Subvariant Detected in Indonesia

Jakarta, MINA – The Indonesian Ministry of Health has detected the Omicron XBB subvariant in Indonesia.

In his written statement on Saturday, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, M. Syahril, said that the first case of XBB in Indonesia was a local transmission detected in a 29-year-old woman who had just returned from Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

“There are symptoms such as cough, runny nose, and fever. He then underwent an examination and tested positive on September 26. After undergoing isolation, the patient has been declared cured on October 3,” said Syahril.

Following this finding, the Ministry of Health rushed to take anticipatory efforts by testing and tracing 10 close contacts. As a result, all close contacts tested negative for the XBB variant of COVID-19.

Syahril said that although the new XBB variant spreads quickly, the fatality is not worse than the Omicron variant. However, the country cannot be said to be safe from the COVID-19 pandemic because various mutations of new variants still have the potential to continue to occur. In the last seven days also reported an increase in cases in 24 provinces.

Therefore, Syahril asked the public to prioritize health protocols such as wearing masks, avoiding crowds, and washing hands and doing testing if they experience signs and symptoms of COVID-19. It also hastens the COVID-19 vaccination to increase protection against COVID-19.

“Immediately do a booster for those who haven’t, to reduce morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19,” said Syahril.

Since it was first discovered, as many as 24 countries have reported findings of the XBB subvariant Omicron. Syahril said this XBB variant caused a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases in Singapore, accompanied by an increase in the trend of hospitalization.

“The increase in cases of the XBB wave in Singapore is fast and has reached 0.79 times the wave BA.5 and 0.46 times the wave BA.2,” he said.

In an effort to prevent an increase in the transmission of COVID-19, the Ministry of Health has also increased supervision of the arrival of travelers at the country’s entrances. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)