Don’t panic, here’s how to deal with the new variant of Corona B1617 by an expert from UGM

Liputan6.com, Yogyakarta – The Chairperson of the UGM FK-KMK Genetic Working Group, Dr. Gunadi, asked people in the country not to panic in facing this new variant of Corona B1617 discovered in India recently. However, he said the need to be vigilant with discipline in carrying out health protocols.

“Don’t panic, but continue to be vigilant about implementing prokes to prevent the spread of these new variants,” said the lecturer of FK-KMK UGM Thursday, May 20, 2021.

He said that as of May 11, 2021, WHO had increased the status of the COVID-19 variant B1617 from Variant of Interest (VoI) to Variant of Concern (VoC) at the global level. This means that this variant is declared to be aware of its spread because it has been shown to affect transmission speed or spread more easily.

“Of course, this should be a common concern, especially the Indonesian people, considering that this variant has been detected in Indonesia and has also increased its status to VoC,” he explained.

WHO stated that the Covid-19 variant which is included in the VoC category must be closely monitored to find out about developments in the pandemic. Countries of the world can increase their ability to conduct VoC surveillance through more tests whole genome sequencing (WGS).

The change in status to the B1617 variant adds a new variant of the corona virus with VoC status to 4 variants. While the other three variants that are also categorized as VoC at the global level are the B117 variant from England, the B1351 variant from South Africa, and the P. 1 variant from Brazil.

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