Omicron RI Adds Again to 19 People, Common Symptoms of Cough
The Ministry of Health as of Friday (12/24/2021) reported an additional 11 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in Indonesia. With these additional cases, the total number of Omicron cases in Indonesia is 19 people.
The addition of 11 new cases was detected after Whole Genome Sequencing was carried out on PCR samples of foreign travelers. The 11 case reports are imported cases that have just come from Turkey, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea.
DAH, male, 58 years old, from Turkey
NAN, male, 21 years old, from Turkey
SS, male, 53, from Turkey
ADS, male, 49 years old, from Turkey
NF, female, 59 years old, from Turkey
ASPP, male, 21 years old, from Turkey
R, male, 33 years old, from Japan
AW, male, 32 years old, from South Korea
RP, male, 40 years old, from Japan
W, male, 44 years old, from Japan
I, male, 28 years old, from Saudi Arabia
Currently, all patients exposed to the Omicron variant are undergoing quarantine in Jakarta. Three of the 11 cases complained of symptoms but tended to be mild.
"The common symptom we see is coughing, if it's sore, it's hard to tell the difference," said the Director of Prevention and Control of Directly Infectious Diseases (P2PML) Dr. Siti Nadia Tarmizi.
align: justify;">Minister of Health Opens Up Findings of Omicron's First Case in Indonesia, Not Athletes' House Workers
The first patient of the Omicron variant in Indonesia, who is a janitor at Wisma Atlet, is known to have contracted it from an Indonesian citizen who arrived in Indonesia from Nigeria. However, the case of the Indonesian citizen from Nigeria is not counted as an Omicron case in Indonesia. Why is that?
It is known that the cleaning worker at Wisma Atlet has no history of overseas travel. It was mentioned that the patient was exposed because he served the residents of the Athlete House every day.
With this condition, the Ministry of Health then conducted a close contact tracing of the patient within the last 14 days. From the S Gene Target Failure (SGTF) examination, it was found that the patient was infected by an Indonesian citizen who went into quarantine after a trip to Nigeria and arrived in Indonesia on November 27, 2021. The Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, said that the case of the Indonesian citizen from Nigeria was not counted as the Omicron case in RI. Because when detected, the person is already in a state of recovery. As a result, the test results on this person could not be reported to the international agency GISAID.
"The Nigerian status is the person who has recovered. Now, if he has recovered, we can't have WGS. Because WGS must be positive," he explained when met at the Mega Bank Tower, South Jakarta, Wednesday (12/22/2021).
"If we can't WGS, there's no result, we can't submit it to GISAID. So it's an international database. Thus we can't recognize it as positive," continued the Minister of Health.
The Minister of Health also said that the results of the SGTF cannot be concluded as positive for the Omicron variant. The results of the SGTF were only concluded as probable cases.
"Even though the chance is huge. Because the SGTF is now being used in England to calculate the Omicron case," concluded the Minister of Health.
Latest Research Reveals Sinovac Vaccine Resistance vs Omicron Variant
A study in Hong Kong tested the effectiveness of the Sinovac vaccine against the Coronavirus variant B.1.1.529 or Omicron. The study took three doses of the Sinovac vaccine for investigation.
Tests on all three doses of Sinovac vaccine consisting of two vaccine doses and one booster dose showed surprising results. The researchers found that three doses of the Sinovac vaccine were unable to boost the immune system of a person exposed to the Omicron variant. received two doses of Sinovac vaccine using another vaccine for a third or booster injection.
Previously, Sinovac released a laboratory study showing that 94 percent of people with three doses of the vaccine could produce enough antibodies against Omicron.
For the record, the Sinovac vaccine is the most widely used in China and has been distributed in several countries including Indonesia.
6 Types of Corona Vaccines Recognized by WHO, Which Can Fight Omicron?
In preventing the transmission of COVID-19, various companies are competing to develop vaccines aimed at providing defense and increasing the body's resistance to the Coronavirus. However, which vaccine can fight the Coronavirus, especially Omicron?
The Omicron virus was reported to have entered Indonesia on Thursday (16/12/2021). So far, there have been a total of 19 cases of Omicron in Indonesia. Although most Omicron patients have no symptoms, we still need to be aware of viruses from this variant.
Several vaccines recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) are known to have an emergency use listing (EUL) to operate.EUL administration is considered in terms of vaccine quality, safety, and efficacy. Here are some vaccines that have been recognized by WHO:
1. Pfizer-BioNTech
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is one of the vaccines recognized by the WHO. This vaccine is the first vaccine to get EUL and has been distributed to a number of countries.
2. AstraZeneca-Oxford
AstraZeneca is the second vaccine to receive an emergency use permit from the WHO. Two versions of the AstraZeneca vaccine, made by South Korea's SK and India's The Serum Institute, have been reviewed by SAGE and are recommended for use at the age of 18 and over.
3. Johnson & Johnson
The vaccine, which was developed in the United States, has also received the EUL. This type of vaccine that only injects a single dose is claimed to have an efficiency of 66.3 percent and is 100 percent effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19.
4. Moderna
Moderna has also received an emergency use permit on April 30, 2021. This vaccine had previously been recommended by SAGE to be given to people aged 18 years and over.
5. Sinopharm
Including vaccines that have been recognized by WHO, this vaccine made in China has received EUL on May 7, 2021. This type of vaccine is recommended for ages 18 years with an interval of 3-4 weeks of injection. It is known, this vaccine has an efficacy of 78 percent and is even used in mutual cooperation vaccination programs.
6. Sinovac
Sinovac has received the EUL on June 1, 2021. This vaccine is said to be effective in preventing symptomatic disease by 51 percent and is also effective in preventing COVID-19 patients from getting worse and hospitalized.
What type of vaccine works against Omicron?
Quoted from the official Pfizer website, laboratory studies show that three doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine have been shown to neutralize the Omicron variant.
"Although two doses of the vaccine may still offer protection against severe conditions caused by the Omicron strain, it is clear from these preliminary data suggesting that protection has been increased in the third dose of our vaccine," said Albert Bourla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer. 25/12/2021).
Pfizer-BioNTech confirms that the third dose it offers is sufficient to provide protection against the Omicron variant.
"Our initial and first datasets show that a third dose can still offer an adequate level of protection from the disease of any severity caused by the Omicron variant," said Ugur Sahin, MD, CEO and Co-Founder of BioNTech.
Furthermore, a Danish study examining the effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines revealed that a third dose of these vaccines was shown to provide 'significant' protection against Omicron variants, particularly for the elderly.
The study analyzed data from three million people in Denmark collected on November 20 and December 12.
Those who received both doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines experienced reduced protection for five months.
"We saw that protection was lower and decreased more rapidly in the Omicron variant than in the Delta variant after primary vaccination," said study author Palle Valentiner-Branch, quoted on Saturday (12/25/2021).
Even so, at the third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the protection was able to recover up to 54.6 percent in people aged 60 years and over.
This study confirms the findings of a recent UK study, which also showed a rapid decrease in protection against Omicron over time as well as a significant increase in protection after booster injections using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
"Given the exponential increase in Omicron cases, these findings highlight the need for a large-scale rollout of vaccination and booster vaccination," the researchers said.