Indonesia reports 10 cases of Indian coronavirus variant

By Nicky Aulia Widadio

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AA) – At least 10 people in Indonesia were infected with a variant of coronavirus detected in India, an official said on Monday.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the cases were mostly detected in South Sumatra and Central Kalimantan provinces.

"The Health Ministry will perform genome sequencing in those areas to determine the pattern of its spread," Sadikin told a virtual news conference.

According to the Health Ministry, the Indian variant entered the country on Jan. 7.

The first case was detected in a migrant worker in Medan, North Sumatra, who had just returned from Malaysia.

Through the whole genome sequencing examination, four cases of the Indian variant were also found in South Sumatra. Three other cases were detected in Central Kalimantan in mid-March.

In early April, a health worker in Jakarta was also infected with the new variant.

Meanwhile, the last case was an Indian national who arrived in Jakarta on April 22.

In addition to the Indian variant, Indonesia also confirmed 13 cases of the virus mutation from England, and one case of the variant from South Africa.

"Most of these SARS-COV-2 cases were from Saudi Arabia, Africa, India and Malaysia," Sadikin explained.

With the highest tally in Southeast Asia, Indonesia has reported 1.7 million COVID-19 cases, including 47,000 fatalities.

*Writing by Maria Elisa Hospita​​​​​​​