Indonesia was one of the latest nations to report confirmed cases of the more contagious variant, after weeks of being on high alert as the strain swept across the world and was detected in 89 countries, including neighboring states.

It was also one of the more lenient countries in terms of imposing travel and activity restrictions when the variant was reported, which sparked calls for more vigilance, especially after two more Omicron cases were confirmed on Friday among returning travelers.

Health Ministry spokeswoman Siti Nadia Tarmizi said the two new cases were detected after authorities completed genomic sequencing of the five suspected cases first revealed on Thursday.

“The two new confirmed patients are identified as IKWJ, a 42-year-old male who returned from South America, and M, a 50-year-old male who returned from England. Both patients are currently in quarantine at the athletes village,” Nadia said, in reference to the state-run sport facility in Jakarta that was converted into a COVID-19 quarantine and emergency hospital last year.

Authorities were able to flag the five suspected cases and the first confirmed case using a specific type polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test that can detect the S-gene target failure (SGTF), which is one of the identifiers of the Omicron mutations, the health official said. These tests were conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Three other suspected cases are Chinese nationals currently in quarantine at a hospital in Manado, North Sulawesi. Their samples, kompas.com reports, have been sent to the ministry’s health research and development agency in Jakarta, but their results have yet to come back.

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