ot very severe because according to some information that we have gained from several countries, it has characteristics akin to OmicronJakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Minister of Health Dante Saksono Harbuwono stated that the Omicron BA.2.75 subvariant has spread in Indonesia.
"There are three cases of BA.2.75. All are simple cases, nothing too severe," Harbuwono stated during an event at the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Cultural Affairs Building here on Monday.
The deputy minister attended the event held in accordance with Presidential Decree Number 65/P of 2022 on termination and appointment of Social Security supervisory board's replaced members.
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He stated that those three cases were identified a week ago after running a genome sequencing test on all patients confirmed positive for COVID-19 in Indonesia.
Harbuwono noted that according to several countries' research, the subvariant's characteristics included the rapid rate of spread, though being mild in severity.
"Not very severe because according to some information that we have gained from several countries, it has characteristics akin to Omicron. It is not as dangerous, (the rate of which one could be hospitalized from it) is not so high, and the severity is not that (threatening)," he stated.
Harbuwono reminded people to not panic over the emergence of new subvariants, as BA.2.75 has characteristics similar to those of the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.
The findings were also shared by Indonesia on the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) to be studied by other countries.
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On a separate occasion, Director of Postgraduate at YARSI University Prof. Tjandra Yoga Aditama stated that so far, no confirmation had been received on the BA.2.75 subvariant's tendency to dodge the immune system.
"It is just that this case has spread from India to 10 countries. Rampant spread reminds us of the Delta variant some time ago," Aditama stated.
Current data showed that the BA.2.75 subvariant had eight additional mutations from BA.5 observed a lot in Indonesia, which dodged the current immune system.
Aditama said that BA.2.75 had been included on the monitoring list of the World Health Organization. "All of these changes necessitate us to be cautious and either inside or outside, wearing mask is a must," he emphasized.
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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