19th October 2022 – Indonesia’s Ministry of Health of Indonesia (Kemenkes) confirmed that the subvariant XBB Covid-19 has yet to be detected in Indonesia. Despite that, the minister appealed to the public to continue applying health protocols, such as wearing masks, washing hands, and maintaining physical distancing.
Head of the Communication and Public Service Bureau of the Ministry of Health of Inonesia (Kemenkes), Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that the Minister will conduct genome sequencing.
This subvariant is already known to spread in Singapore, causing a spike in new cases to 9,000 cases in one day.
Covid-19 XBB is the new Omicron subvariant, strain BA.2.10 that was first found in India on August 2022. Other countries that has reported similar cases are Australia, Bangladesh, Denmark, India and Japan.
Based on the observation of countries with the XBB subvariant showed that it is as contagious as the current variant but does not have any severe symptoms.
However, Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) said there are signs that the XBB might be pushing the rise of reinfection. About 17 percent of the total cases last month in Singapore is reinfection.
The Ministry emphasized the importance of ensuring minimum protection from vaccination and keeping vaccinations updated in order to protect from severe infections.
Quoted from the CGTN, there is no evidence of Covid-19 XBB worsen existing diseases. So far, a large number of patients in Singapore reported light symptoms like a sore throat or light fever, especially if they have been vaccinated.
Previous vaccination schemes of either three complete mRNA or four doses of Sinovac are still highly effective at preventing severe symptoms. However, this variant is much riskier for those who have yet to receive vaccinations.
Singapore’s Ministry of Health reported that the average growth of Covid-19 cases in a week rises from 4,714 to 7,716 over the past week. The surging cases in hospitalization is proportional to the overall increase in local cases.
