VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi G. Sadikin, Deputy Minister of Health (Wamenkes) Dante Saksono Harbuwono, and the Coordinator of the Covid-19 Task Force Expert Team Prof. Wiku Adisasmito, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) discuss the omicron increase cases in Indonesia - 

Together with the Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi G. Sadikin, Deputy Minister of Health (Wamenkes) Dante Saksono Harbuwono, and the Coordinator of the Covid-19 Task Force Expert Team Prof. Wiku Adisasmito, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) held a dialogue with epidemiologists, health experts, doctors, and social experts from various educational and research institutions in Indonesia. The purpose of this virtual activity on Friday (14-01-2022) is to get the best input in dealing with the Omicron variant that has entered Indonesia.

The focus of the discussion is on handling when a spike occurs and after a spike occurs.

"From various studies given to me by fellow epidemiologists and doctors, we know that this Omicron variant spreads very quickly, but is less severe or not severe, although there are mortality rates in several countries but the numbers are quite low from this variant. Even so, we want us to reduce the spike in confirmed cases and what are our efforts after the Omicron spike," said Coordinating Minister Luhut when opening the discussion.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Sunday (16/01/22), in the last few weeks, it was discovered that the Omicron Variant in Indonesia came from Overseas Travelers (PPLN). So far, more than 500 positive confirmed cases of the Omicron variant have been detected in Indonesia, especially in the DKI Jakarta area and local transmission has occurred. Therefore, definite steps are needed regarding this matter.

"Local transmission has occurred and DKI Jakarta is the cluster of transmission, for that we need to coordinate with local governments regarding mobility restrictions and also be accompanied by strengthening health protocols, booster vaccines, and health service facilities," explained Minister of Health, Budi advised.

Adding, Deputy Minister of Health Dante, said the need for re-administration of drug packages for patients with mild, moderate, and severe symptoms. "We will prepare this medicine package soon. The existence of this drug package is intended for people who are asymptomatic and have mild symptoms, this is intended to reduce the number of hospitalizations in various hospitals in Indonesia," said Deputy Minister of Health Dante.

On the same occasion, the Coordinator of the Covid-19 Task Force Expert Team Wiku Adisasmito also commented on the strategy to be used. The focus is related to tightening PPLN coming to Indonesia. “For PPLN, they will be quarantined for 7 days after they arrive. During this quarantine, they will be tested by PCR and must be completely safe before entering the community," he said.

In this discussion, one of the experts, Amin Soebandrio from the Eijkman Institute, stated that Indonesia is entering a transition period in handling Covid-19 from the Delta variant to the Omicron. According to him, monitoring at the molecular level needs to be sharpened considering that many things are not known about this variant.

"Until now this Omicron is still being studied, the speed of transmission is fast. Although this is a different variant of Delta with a mortality rate that is still not there, but we need to continue to anticipate the various possibilities that can occur," he said.

Regarding this new variant of Omicron, there has been a significant increase. Epidemiologist from the Faculty of Medicine (FK) Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Hari Kusnanto from Epidemiologist from FK Universitas Airlangga (Unair) Windhu Purnomo said that the government should be able to flatten the curve or be able to keep the increase in cases from being too fast and too high so that the peak will occur in March but with a lower number of cases.

However, according to Hari, the control of transmission of the Omicron Variant can be carried out if the health protocols, mobility restrictions, vaccinations, and health care facilities are properly accommodated.

Other experts, namely Erlina Burhan and Siti Setiati from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia (UI) reminded the public not to be lulled by the narrative that the Omicron variant is not as vicious as the previous variant. Both of them gave advice to Coordinating Minister Luhut and the ranks of Ministers and the task force to make firm efforts to enforce health protocols and also carry out booster vaccines.

“This variant is still being researched, it is less severe than Delta, but it is still being researched. This can increase if we are not firm in reducing transmission or the transmission is high,” said Doctor Siti in the discussion.

Furthermore, apart from advice from the health aspect, Coordinating Minister Luhut also asked for input from the social aspect to formulate a more comprehensive strategy.

In the discussion, UI sociologist Imam B. Prasodjo explained that the strategy that had been used so far in the social aspect was correct. According to him, there are four main points that the government needs to continue to do, namely strengthening coordination between government and security forces. The second strategy, added Imam, is to encourage people to do public-pressure on others who violate the health protocol rules, conduct campaigns to increase body resistance or body immunity in the family, and also try to empower local communities through education so that generation loss does not occur.

At the end of this discussion, Coordinating Minister Luhut, Minister of Health Budi G. Sadikin, Deputy Minister of Health Dante, and Coordinator of the Expert Team of the Covid-19 Task Force Wiku Adisasmito, expressed their gratitude and appreciation for the input, criticism, and suggestions given by the experts in this discussion. The positive side of handling the Covid-19 Pandemic, according to Coordinating Minister Luhut, actually increases solidarity among Indonesian people to work hand in hand, helping each other.

"We need to maintain this, not only during this pandemic, but also in the future. This is a good thing and we should be grateful for what has arisen from this pandemic," he concluded.

Apart from the above experts, several other experts were also present in this discussion, namely Ismoedijanto Moedjito from FK Unair, Panji Hadisoemarto from FK Universitas Padjadjaran (Unpad), Iwan Ariawan from the Faculty of Public Health (FKM) UI, Pandu Riono from Faculty of Public Health (FKM) UI. FKM UI, and pediatrician Aman Bhakti Pulungan//VOI-NK