Jakarta (ANTARA) - The detection of a locally transmitted Omicron case in Papua is proof that the COVID-19 variant has spread in Indonesia, the Ministry of Health has said.
During a national webinar on Saturday, the ministry's COVID-19 vaccination spokesperson Siti Nadia Tarmizi said that Omicron cases were previously detected in several provinces.
The provinces comprise Jakarta, Banten, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, and South Sulawesi, she noted.
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed Omicron cases recorded between December 15, 2021, and February 4, 2022, stood at 3,914, she said.
Of the total cases, 1,815 were detected in international travelers, while 1,756 cases involved local transmission, she informed.
Meanwhile, 343 cases are still at the verification stage as their source has not been identified, she added.
"For the ones that are still being verified, it is highly likely that they are local transmission. Because what we receive are not from traveler's samples," she informed.
The high number of Omicron cases shows that there has been a shift in transmission, she said.
Initially, Omicron cases were dominated by international travelers, but now local transmission is responsible for most cases, she explained.
On average, patients who contracted the Omicron variant had received the complete dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and had passed the S-gene Target Failure (SGTF) test, she said.
Earlier, Communication and Informatics Minister Johnny G. Plate had requested his ministry's employees to take the booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine given the continued rise in the number of domestic Omicron cases.
