Gov't Confirms 414 Omicron Cases in Indonesia

The Indonesian government announced that 414 confirmed cases of Omicron are detected in Indonesia as of Saturday, with 34 were locally transmitted

In regards to the findings, Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 vaccination spokesperson Siti Nadia Tarmidzi warned the public against traveling abroad if it isn’t deemed urgent.

"The majority of the Omicron cases came from international travelers. Therefore, we urge public to postpone their traveling plan abroad," Tarmidzi said in a statement on Sunday, January 9, as reported by Antara.

It was revealed that cases of the Omicron infection mostly came from Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

A person who have received both doses of COVID-19 vaccine can still be infected with the coronavirus, including the Omicron variant, and there’s no guarantee that a person is immune to the COVID-19 virus. And it’s worth noting that most people, who were confirmed to have contracted Omicron, had completed their vaccination.

"We need to be cautious and cannot let it infect us. Implementing health protocols is our responsibility even though we’ve been vaccinated. Do not contract and spread the virus," she warned.

According to the spokesperson, Omicron has a far faster rate of infection as compared to the Delta variant. In Indonesia, the pace of transmission of the Omicron variant continues to increase ever since it was first confirmed on December 16 last year.

Ministry of Health has encouraged regions to strengthen the testing, tracing, treatment procedure and to actively conduct monitoring if new COVID-19 clusters are found. They're also warned to immediately report and coordinate with the central government if Omicron cases are detected.

"We cannot let our guard down. We cannot let the third wave emerge in Indonesia," Tarmidzi said. "We can’t let what happened in India to also occur in Indonesia where there was an upward trend, from around six thousand cases to ninety thousand confirmed cases of Omicron. This is something we should avoid," she added.