Nina A. Loasana

The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The Health Ministry is working on enhancing its COVID-19 surveillance to effectively detect and contain the spread of Omicron at an early stage as more countries across the globe detect the new virus variant.

Health authorities are aiming to improve its relatively poor contact tracing by working together with village supervisory non-commissioned officers (Babinsa) and public order officers (Bhabinkamtibmas), according to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

"We need to strengthen our contact tracing and increase the number of patients' close contacts who were tested for COVID-19 so that we can find new cases as soon as possible," Budi said as quoted from a copy of his presentation for a Health Ministry meeting on Monday.

The ideal contact tracing ratio recommended by the World Health Organization is 30:1. This means that for each person who tests positive for COVID-19, a minimum of 30 people should be identified and traced as a close contact, defined as within 1 meter for 15 minutes or more.

Indonesia's contact tracing ratio currently varies greatly from one province to another. Bali, for example, can trace on average six close contacts per confirmed case, but Jakarta can find an average of 17 close contacts per case.

Budi said the ministry was also seeking to carry out more whole-genome sequencing, especially in regions with a higher risk of seeing another surge of infections, even though Indonesia has yet to report any Omicron cases.

Read also: Government should expand surveillance capacity in response to Omicron, experts say

"Twelve cities and regencies in Java and Bali have started to see an uptick in COVID-19 cases. Improving detection and surveillance capacity is very important in these areas," Budi said without naming the regions.

Seven provinces in Java and Bali have recorded a fluctuating number of daily coronavirus cases in the past few days, though the figures remained below 100.

Jakarta, for instance, recorded 70 new cases on Wednesday, a slight increase from  40 to 50 daily cases since Sunday. Meanwhile, West Java reported 58 cases on Wednesday, down from 68 cases in the previous day but up from below 30 on Saturday and Sunday. Nationwide cases also remained below 300.

However, the nationwide vaccination rate has also remained low, with 46 percent of the target recipients and 34 percent of the elderly having been fully vaccinated.

Public health expert Tjandra Yoga Aditama from the University of Indonesia (UI) said the government should at least double the number of coronavirus genomes being sequenced in the country to be able to sufficiently monitor the new virus variant.

Over 293,000 sequences globally have been uploaded to the GISAID online database for sharing viral genomes since Nov. 1. But Indonesia has contributed to a tiny fraction of global submissions, with 65 complete genomes, or about 0.5 percent of the COVID-19 cases reported in the country in the same period, with the most recent collection of samples being eight days ago.

Earlier this month, Budi said Indonesia had only 12 laboratories that could carry out whole-genome sequencing at the moment, with a total capacity of processing 1,500 to 1,800 samples per month.

He added that the government was in the process of procuring around 20 whole-genome sequencing machines and was planning to distribute them to university laboratories across the archipelago.

Indonesia reports no Omicron cases so far

Omicron has been detected in at least 23 other countries or territories since it was listed as a WHO variant of concern on Friday. This includes Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Israel, Italy, Belgium and Hong Kong, with a total of 249 confirmed cases worldwide. No deaths related to this variant have been reported so far.

Read also: Omicron in Europe before South Africa reported first cases

Although not much is known about Omicron at the moment, Budi said preliminary evidence suggested that it may be more transmissible compared to Delta — which is the most infectious COVID-19 variant to date — and may cause an increased risk of reinfection. 

"Despite its alarming transmissibility, interim data suggest that Omicron symptoms may be less severe compared to Delta's," Budi said.

Indonesia has not detected any Omicron cases as of Tuesday, but national COVID-19 task force spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito said the country must remain alert.

“The keys to guarding against Omicron are to tighten border control, increase whole-genome sequencing, ensure safe public mobility and improve tracing and testing, especially for international travelers.”

Minor haj a new concern

The uncertainty around the virulence of Omicron and its ability to evade vaccine protection has put the globe on alert, with more countries tightening their borders in the past few days. This prompted the WHO to warn against blanket travel bans over Omicron.

Indonesia placed on Sunday a travel ban on foreigners with a history of being in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Eswatini, Malawi, Angola, Zambia and Hong Kong within two weeks before departing to Indonesia and increases its mandatory quarantine period from three days to seven days.

However, it is still allowing entry to more than a dozen countries that have found Omicron cases in their respective regions.

Concerns have emerged over the government's plan to resume dispatching umrah (minor haj) pilgrims to Saudi Arabia this month, as the gulf country recently recorded its first confirmed cases of Omicron.

Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas has downplayed this concern, saying that the public should not be "overly worried" about the new virus variant.

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