Indonesia Still Free of New Covid-19 Mutation
Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has assured that the new strain of Covid-19 has yet to make its way to Indonesia, two months after the mutation forced the government to virtually bar foreigners from entering the country.
“[The Ministry of Health’s] research has yet to find this mutation, which has been found in Great Britain, South Africa and Brazil,” he said. “We have stepped up the taking of samples from 170 throughout 2020 to 180 in January and February.”
Budi added that the Ministry of Health is collaborating with the Ministry of Research and Technology to build 12 laboratories to examine the mutation and prevent it from entering Indonesia.
“[Both ministries] are coordinating in sampling and testing for the new strain or mutation with the whole genome sequencing or partial genome sequencing methods.” Aside from Great Britain and South Africa, the new Covid-19 mutation was also found in Singapore and South Korea.
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