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Government should expand surveillance capacity in response to Omicron, experts say
University of Indonesia’s School of Medicine professor Tjandra Yoga Aditama said the government should at least double its whole-genome sequencing capacity to be able to sufficiently detect and monitor the development of the new coronavirus variant in the country.
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A passenger holds his mobile phone while looking at an electronic flight notice board displaying canceled flights at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Nov. 27, 2021, after several countries banned flights from South Africa following the discovery of a new COVID-19 variant Omicron. (AFP/Phil Magakoe)
Nina A. Loasana
The government needs to expand its surveillance capacity in order to detect and swiftly contain the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, which the World Health Organization recently named as a variant of concern, experts have said.
Indonesia has so far tightened its borders in response to the B.1.1.529 variant, which was first reported to the WHO from South Africa on Nov. 24 and was officially listed as a variant of concern two days later, joining an increasing list of countries that have made similar moves to prevent the spread of the new variant in their territories.
In addition, the mandatory quarantine period for arrivals from the rest of those countries was lengthened to up to seven days from the previous requirement of three-to-five days.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo led a closed-door Cabinet meeting in Jakarta on Monday to discuss the Omicron variant, as well as the government’s planned curbs during the year-end holidays as authorities scramble to prevent another wave of COVID-19 cases in the country.
University of Indonesia’s School of Medicine professor Tjandra Yoga Aditama said the government should at least double its whole-genome sequencing capacity to be able to sufficiently detect and monitor the development of the new coronavirus variant in the country.
Indonesia has so far submitted 8,906 whole-genome sequencing samples to the GISAID online database for sharing viral genomes, Tjandra said. Other countries such as South Africa have submitted 23,452 samples, while India has carried out a total of 80,446 whole-genome sequencing analyses.
