Anticipating Community Transmission of Omicron
The variant was detected through genome sequencing and confirmed by the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID).
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin.
The first case of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 has been identified in Indonesia. With the local discovery of this variant, vigilance should be heightened. The public is urged not to travel abroad.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The detection of the new Omicron variant in a member of the cleaning staff at the Athletes Village Emergency Hospital in Jakarta has raised calls for intensified testing and tracing as well as genomic sequencing. The source of the infection must be found immediately to minimize its spread in local communities.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin told an online press conference in Jakarta on Thursday (16/12/2021) that the patient, known by the initial N, worked as a cleaner at the Athletes Village hospital and had tested positive for the Omicron variant. The variant was detected through genome sequencing and confirmed by the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID).
“On 8 Dec. 2021, samples were regularly taken by doctors at the Athletes Village hospital. Three workers tested positive [for Covid-19], but one of them was positive for Omicron,” he said. The three cases had no symptoms, fever or cough, and tested negative for Covid-19 when their samples were run through a PCR machine.
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In addition, five other cases were identified as probable carriers of the Omicron variant. Two were Indonesian citizens who had just arrived from the Unites States and Britain, while the other three were Chinese citizens visiting Manado, North Sulawesi.
All five are in quarantine pending the results of their genome sequencing tests, expected in 3-5 days. Earlier, the five had taken PCR tests that returned results showing S-gene target failure (SGTF), which is an indicator of the Omicron variant. The results then require further confirmation through whole genome sequencing (WGS).
People take part in a protest against COVID-19 vaccine passports and other policies outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Monday, Dec. 13, 2021. Long lines formed at vaccination centers in Britain as people heeded the government's call for all adults to get booster shots to protect against the omicron variant of the coronavirus, which the prime minister said Monday has caused at least one death.
Dr. Steaven Dandel, the disease prevention and control head at the North Sulawesi Health Office, said the three Chinese citizens, whose positive test results had indicated the presence of the Omicron variant, had arrived by chartered plane from China at Manado’s Sam Ratulangi International Airport on 7 Dec. 2021.“We have placed them in isolation at the Covid-19 Emergency Field Hospital in Kitawaya,” he added.
The three originally tested positive for Covid-19 through antigen tests taken at the airport, which was then confirmed by PCR tests. Samples taken from the three visitors were then examined at the laboratory of the Class I Manado Technical Center for Environmental Health and Disease Control using special reagents that detect the S gene in SARS-CoV-2. The lack of the S gene indicates that the virus variant is Omicron (B.1.1.529).
Refrain from traveling abroad
Budi stressed that local community transmission had not occurred. The cleaner who presented the Omicron variant had no history of overseas travel, but he could have been infected while at work. When on duty, cleaners stay in the dormitory at the Athletes Village hospital.
“The public should not panic. The most important thing is to maintain vigilance by complying with the health protocols. Please keep overseas travel for nonessential purposes to a minimum,” Budi said.
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The government has intensified surveillance as an anticipatory measure. All close contacts of confirmed cases must be tested. WGS has been increased from 5 percent to 10 percent for testing all confirmed Covid-19 cases. The use of the PCR SGTF reagent technology for detecting the Omicron variant has also been increased.
According to regulations, foreign visitors from 11 countries that have detected local transmission of the Omicron variant must be quarantined for 14 days on arrival.
National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Suharyanto added that prevention measures against Omicron had been implemented at all points of entry. According to regulations, foreign visitors from 11 countries that have detected local transmission of the Omicron variant must be quarantined for 14 days on arrival.
Postgraduate program director at YARSI University Tjandra Yoga Aditama, who was also a former infectious diseases director at the World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia, said tracing close contacts of people infected with the Omicron variant should be carried out promptly. “An assessment is needed to ascertain if community transmission has occurred,” he said.
People visit the Wynwood area on December 03, 2021 in Miami, Florida. Tourism economies around the country are concerned about the possible slowdown in business now that the COVID-19 Omicron variant is in the United States.
President Joko Widodo said that the entry of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant into Indonesia was inevitable. In order to anticipate the variant’s spread, vaccination should be intensified. He also appealed to the public to avoid overseas travel and to stringently follow the health protocols.
Antibodies
A recent study from researchers at the University of Hong Kong has found that the vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech produced insufficient immunity against the Omicron variant. Of the 25 people fully vaccinated with the Sinovac vaccine, none had showed the presence of sufficient antibodies in their blood serum to neutralize the Omicron variant.
In a separate group fully vaccinated using Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA vaccine, five volunteers were found to have developed enough immunity against the new variant. The study, headed by microbiologist Yuen Kwok Yung, was published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) warned that the Omicron variant would dominate Covid-19 cases in Europe by early 2022. Without imposing public restrictions or accelerating the distribution of booster doses, it feared that health facilities would become overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients.
A nurse prepares a dose of the Sinovac vaccine against COVID-19, at the Hermanas Misioneras de la Comunidad Cristiana nursing home in Medellin, Colombia, on February 27, 2021.
A study by researchers at Japan’s Kyoto University has found that the Omicron variant is highly infectious among both vaccinated people as well as people who had recovered from other coronavirus strains. Richard Mihigo, vaccine development coordinator at WHO Regional Office for Africa, said the preliminary data showed that the Omicron variant caused milder illness than other variants.
(TAN/AIK/INA/ERK/HLN/ESA/BRO/ETA/OKA/AP/AFP/REUTERS/MHD)
(This article was translated by Aris Prawira)
