"There is an area that is called as the first 'battlefield' against Omicron in our country. In that area it is also mentioned that there are already several sub-districts that are included in the red zone of (COVID-19)," Prof. Tjandra Yoga Aditama from UI's Faculty of Medicine said at a press conference here on Tuesday.
On January 13, 2022, five professional medical specialist organizations, from the fields of pediatrics, pulmonary medicine, internal medicine, cardiology, and anesthesiology, wrote to four ministers regarding the need for an evaluation of face-to-face learning, he informed.
In their letter, they stated that children and families should be allowed to choose between face-to-face and distance learning, he said.
The letter also underlined the need for children with comorbidities to get a checkup and for immunizations for children so that they can participate in face-to-face learning, Aditama added. Meanwhile, they asked that the control mechanism and school opening and closing system also be regulated, he informed.
"We know that cases of COVID-19 in recent times have continued to increase. Besides the absolute number, which has reached around three thousand cases a day, there is also a tendency for positive numbers to increase. Hence, there needs to be an assessment of the development of the reproductive numbers, all of which indicate the potential for transmission in the community. Moreover, the number of local transmissions of the Omicron variant also continues to increase," Aditama said.
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The letter further states that children who are at risk of developing severe complications such as multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) associated with COVID-19 are also likely to experience long COVID-19 complications, he added.
Experts, including in South Dakota in the United States, have begun to talk about the possibility of long COVID-19 in children, Aditama observed.
"Although it requires further research. But we don't want this kind of impact to happen to our children," he said.
Aditama, a Professor of Pulmonary Medicine from from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia, cited a research conducted on 56,164 patients admitted to hospitals in South Africa. According to the research, Omicron variant is 49 percent higher than Delta to infect children aged below four years
"Other data from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which was also written on CNN on January 12, 2022, states that the number of children admitted to hospitals is increasing in America, with an average of 4.3 children under five per 100 thousand children admitted to hospital in the first week of January. This number has increased compared to 2.6 per 100 thousand children the previous week," he pointed out.
Compared to the initial figure in December 2021, there has been an increase of 48 percent, with the child age group being the highest during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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"So, at least in the red zones, some efforts need to be made to increase protection for public health, including an evaluation of the implementation of face-to-face learning, at least in those areas," Aditama stressed.
Meanwhile, the Instruction of Home Affairs Minister (Inmendagri) Number 5 of 2022 concerning the Enforcement of Restrictions on Community Activities (PPKM) Levels 3, 2, and 1 in Java and Bali, which was issued on January 24, 2022, regulates learning in education units.
The regulation urges that learning in education units in districts and cities in Java-Bali implementing Level 1 PKM be carried out through limited face-to-face and distance modes.
The regulation is based on the Joint Decree of the Minister of Education and Culture, Research and Technology, Religious Minister, Health Minister, and Home Affairs Minister Number 05/KB/2021, Number 1347 of 2021, Number HK.01.08/MENKES/ 6678/2021, Number 443- 5847 of 2021 concerning Guidelines for the Implementation of Learning in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
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Translator: Katriana
Editor: Suharto
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