There are five people (infected with) BA4, and 19 people (infected with) BA5Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Athlete's Village COVID-19 Emergency Hospital confirmed that 32 patients were infected with the Omicron variant, 19 of whom had contracted the BA4 and BA5 subvariants.
"There are five people (infected with) BA4, and 19 people (infected with) BA5. The others had (contracted) Omicron, with the number of infected reaching eight," head of Public Relations at Athlete's Village COVID-19 Emergency Hospital, Colonel Dr Mintoro Sumego, stated here on Tuesday.
Sumego said the team of doctors at the hospital stated that 32 people had made a recovery and were allowed to go home.
"For the Omicron variant itself, to this day, no other people are being treated at the Athlete's Village because they have made a recovery," he remarked.
He explained that of the 32 people, 17 were males and 15 were females. Some 12 of them were foreign travelers, while 20 were domestic travelers.
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He also stated that data on 32 Omicron patients and their subvariants had been collected since the government first announced the spread of the BA4 and BA5 subvariants in Indonesia.
The findings regarding the 19 patients with the Omicron subvariant were also backed up by samples examined by the Health Ministry's Research and Development team.
The earliest reports of BA4 and BA5 subvariants in Indonesia were received on June 6, 2022. The first four cases comprised one Indonesian citizen infected with the BA4 variant, with asymptomatic clinical conditions and having been vaccinated twice. The other four were positive for the presence of BA5.
The report stated that the subvariants had the possibility of spreading faster than the Omicron BA1 and BA2 subvariants.
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On the other hand, BA4 and BA5 had no indication of causing more severe pain than the other Omicron variants.
South Africa, Portugal, and Chile that had witnessed a spike in COVID-19 cases were associated with an increase in BA4 and BA5 cases.
Meanwhile, in Indonesia, with the surfacing of BA4 and BA5 cases in early June of 2022, the number of cases was estimated to peak in early July of 2022.
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Translator: Fianda S R, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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