"We know that in general, there are three possible new variants of COVID-19," Aditama remarked here on Friday.
According to the health expert, the first possibility is a base scenario like the various variants currently available.
The second is the best scenario if there is a new, weaker variant in the future, while the third is the worst scenario, in which there is a possibility of a new, more vicious variant.
"Hopefully, this does not happen. Arcturus is included in the first category, the base scenario," he remarked.
He confirmed that the COVID-19 case caused by the Arcturus variant had indeed entered Indonesia, as stated by the government on Thursday (Apr 13) and data from GISAID.
In the last three days, the number of positive cases in Indonesia had almost reached one thousand, with the death rate again crossing double digits.
Until now, Arcturus is a type of variant that is still being monitored, with the World Health Organization (WHO) still being wary in its approach while announcing it as "the next Omicron variant to watch."
The number of COVID-19 cases in several countries, such as India, is currently increasing again due to the Arcturus variant.
"Even though there is no official information about how dominant Arcturus is as compared to other variants in our country, it is not impossible that this is one of the reasons for the increase in cases, as has happened in other countries," he remarked.
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Hence, Aditama urged the government to continue to ensure and improve the use of WGS in remote areas, as the mode of transmission of this variant is still the same as the COVID-19 variant in general.
Although there are no distinctive symptoms that distinguish Arcturus from earlier variants, an increase in the number of WGS, he said, could indicate a pattern of existing variants, including related to the existence of Arcturus and its level of dominance.
He said that the strengthening of WGS must be followed by the implementation of an in-depth epidemiological investigation (PE) on around one thousand cases found in the last three days.
There is also the need to ramp up COVID-19 vaccination for the second booster dose, especially when members of the community are going home for Eid.
"The existing data does show that Arcturus is more easily transmitted, so the number of cases could increase, but most of the cases are mild," he pointed out.
"Hence, if (the number of) cases increase, it would not be as bad as before if there are no genomic changes in the future," Aditama, who is concurrently the former WHO Southeast Asia Director of Communicable Diseases, remarked.
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Translator: Hreeloita Dharma Shanti, Katriana
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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