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Virtual Join press conference on omicron spread Monday (27/12/21) -  

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) Luhut B. Pandjaitan, and Minister of Health Budi G. Sadikin again held a press conference on the results of the PPKM evaluation on Monday, (27-12-2021). The main topics he explained in this virtual press conference is about developments in the prevention and treatment of Omicron Variants.

"Until now, there have been 46 confirmed cases of Omicron in Indonesia, almost all of them originating from overseas travelers. The rest are officers at Wisma Athletes," said Coordinating Minister Luhut. Meanwhile, he said that as of last Sunday (26-12-2021), the spread of Omicron in the world is expanding. "It has been detected in
115 countries in the world with total cases reaching more than 184,000," he said.

With this development, Coordinating Minister Luhut encouraged parents in areas that have started Covid-19 vaccinations for their children, to immediately bring their children to be vaccinated. "We still have to be careful, because data in other countries shows cases of children have increased because of Omicron," he said. The precautionary principle, according to Coordinating Minister Luhut, is important to maintain even though data from other countries shows that the Omicron variant causes much lower mortality than the Delta variant.

In addition, which is no less important, he also invites the entire community not to travel abroad for holidays. On the other hand, he encouraged the public to take vacation trips within the country only to prevent the transmission of the Omicron Variant and to accelerate the acceleration of domestic economic recovery. "Domestic tourist attractions are no less beautiful than those outside, so I beg you to postpone traveling abroad for the sake of us together," said Coordinating Minister Luhut.

Furthermore, to respond to the increasingly widespread spread of the Omicron variant, Coordinating Minister Luhut emphasized that the entrance to Indonesia will continue to be tightened, both from land, sea and air. The quarantine of foreign travelers (PPLN) for 10-14 days continues to be tightened. The government has prepared anticipatory scenarios to deal with the surge in arrivals of international travellers which is expected to occur early next year.

"There should be no request for dispensation for things that are not necessary except for example for medical purposes or other important matters," said Coordinating Minister Luhut regarding tightening quarantine after arrivals from abroad.

In addition to quarantine, Coordinating Minister Luhut also said the government was preparing Juanda Sidoarjo Airport as an alternative gateway for foreign arrivals. "We continue to coordinate quickly, for example, such as evaluating the readiness of Juanda Airport as an alternative entrance and meeting the logistical needs of all PPLNs who are quarantined at homesteads," added Coordinating Minister Luhut.

The government's decisive steps to prevent the entry of the Omicron variant have been able to keep Covid-19 cases at a low level. Until now, there are still no visible signs of a new wave due to the Omicron variant. Hospitalization rates and death rates are also still showing signs of being quite under control. But we still have to be vigilant. Monitoring the development of Covid cases is carried out continuously up to the city district level and the enforcement of health protocols must still be carried out by the entire community.

"The tightening of community activities will continue to be carried out when they exceed a certain threshold by taking into account daily cases, as well as cases of hospitalization and death," added Coordinating Minister Luhut.

The government will continue to strengthen _testing_and _tracing_ to identify potential cases spreading quickly. The reason is, many of these Omicron variants have been identified as OTG, so tracing is an important key. "Lockdown measures at the micro level like what we did at Wisma Atlet can be implemented if local Omicron transmissions are detected through this method," he added.

Then, the overall achievement of vaccination has also shown good numbers. Coordinating Minister Luhut said that the achievement of vaccination doses 1 and 2 in Java-Bali had reached more than 80 percent and 60 percent, respectively. "But there are still some areas where dose 1 vaccination is below 50 percent. Let's continue to push this number to maximize the level of community immunity," said Coordinating Minister Luhut.

On the same occasion, Minister of Health Budi G. Sadikin explained the four main tactics in dealing with this variant, namely health protocols, surveillance (3T), vaccination, and treatment. "Don't go abroad first, it has been proven that this variant was brought from abroad and many people are infected because they have traveled from abroad," he stressed. Specifically regarding quarantine, Minister of Health Budi strongly requests that PPLNs comply in order to prevent 270 million Indonesians others contracted the Omicron Variant.

Then, he also asked the public to remain obedient to health protocols and use the Peduli Protect application because there are still many who are not disciplined in implementing these preventive measures.

Then, to carry out rapid detection at the gates of foreign arrivals, Minister of Health Budi explained that the government would use new technology in the use of PCR which can detect the Omicron Variant. "We also purchased a new genome sequencing, which will enter early next year and will be widely distributed throughout Indonesia," added Minister of Health Budi.

Closing the press conference, Coordinating Minister Luhut invited all Indonesians to stay safe so that the number of cases remains low and there are no new waves. "Collaboration of all elements of the nation, reminding each other, praying and trying together, and not being selfish with each other is our key to solving this pandemic problem," he concluded//VOI-NK