Lenny Tristia Tambun, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said on Thursday the arrival of the Omicron variant is inevitable due to its highly transmissible nature.

His remarks came shortly after Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin reported that a cleaning service worker at the makeshift Covid-19 hospital and isolation facility in Jakarta had tested positive for Omicron.

The worker, who had no recent history of overseas trips, was confirmed of having the virus a week ago but it took days for the genome sequencing to determine the variant.

"As the health minister has said, the Omicron variant has been detected in Indonesia. This is inevitable because the variant has the particular characteristic of being highly contagious," the president said on his official YouTube account.

"Now we must work together with the utmost seriousness to prevent the Omicron variant from spreading further in this country."

The surge in new Covid-19 cases has been largely eased in the country of 272 million people over the past two months, with the daily tally falling below 300. The total number of active cases currently stands at fewer than 5,000.

But the approaching year-end holidays and the emergence of the Omicron variant prompted the government to reimpose travel and community restrictions.

Foreign visitors and Indonesian citizens returning from overseas trips are required to self-isolate for ten days upon the arrival.

The health minister said the Omicron patient went asymptomatic and was already declared free from the virus by the latest diagnostic test by the time he made the announcement.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/jokowi-says-omicron-is-the-inevitabl