NU Covid-19 Task Force: New coronavirus variant potential to spread faster

Jakarta, NU Online

The development of the covid-19 virus is now meeting the latest round after the discovery of the latest corona variant B.1.1.529 or the Omicron variant.

 

The Head of the NU Covid-19 Task Force in Malang Raya, Dr. Syifa Mustika, said that according to a research by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Omicron variant has the potential to spread more quickly, so it is possible to infect Covid-19 survivors.

 

"WHO mentioned that this new variant is likely to spread faster than other previous variants and so far less than 100 sample sequences have been reported," he told NU Online here Thursday (2/12/21).

 

Syifa explained that since Friday (11/26/21), WHO had determined the Omicron as a variant of concern (VOC), because within hours the virus has managed to infect several countries.

 

"This variant has infected five continents, and most are found in countries in Europe," explained the member of the Nahdlatul Ulama Doctors Association (PDNU).

 

According to a report from Al Jazeera, since it was first announced in South Africa last week. So far, 19 countries have confirmed the Omicron variant.

 

The 19 countries are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, Reunion, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

 

Meanwhile in Asia, Japan is the latest country to confirm the first case of the Omicron variant on Tuesday (11/30/2021). With the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, Syifa appealed to the Indonesian people to increase their vigilance so that the virus does not spread to the country.

 

"In essence, the level of vigilance and monitoring in Indonesia must be strengthened to detect possible cases of new variants quickly," she said.

 

Referring to covid19.go.id data, Covid-19 cases in Indonesia in the past week COULD be said to be sloping with daily positive cases below 5 thousand.

 

Several indicators also point to this decline. Starting from the patient recovery rate of 96.43 percent, to the effective reproduction rate or Rt Covid-19 of 0.98 percent.

 

On this stand, the public is still advised to always be vigilant to anticipate the third wave of Covid-19.

 

Contributor: Syifa Arrahmah

Editor: Sudarto Murtaufiq