Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said it had not seen any signal that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 had a more severe impact on children, despite an increase in the number of hospitalizations.
“We haven’t seen any signal that there is an increase in severity in children younger than 5 years, who are not yet eligible for vaccination,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, as quoted by Reuters, Saturday (8/1/2022).
He said the increase in the number of cases of COVID-19 patients in general could be one explanation for the spike in the number of hospitalizations.
However, the Chairman of the Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI), Prof. Dr. Sri Rezeki Hadinegoro, briefly explained that the risk of the Omicron variant basically does not look at age. That is, each age group has the same risk of exposure to the Omicron variant.
“In general, the Omicron variant is not selective about the age group. Whether it’s children, adults, the elderly, it’s the same risk if you get infected. But indeed in South Africa, students are the first to get it. So young adults are the first to get it. , then spread to others,” he said in a virtual press conference some time ago.
He added that every age group has the same risk of being exposed to epidemic diseases. At the same time, highlighting the confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in Indonesia are now all imported cases, not community transmission.
“If we are with an epidemic like this, of course, the opportunity cannot be picky. But Alhamdulillah, hopefully it doesn’t spread. In Indonesia, what we see is Omicron entering Indonesia. imported, from abroad but there has been no human-to-human transmission that has been transmitted domestically. That’s what we have to prevent,” he concluded.
(wia)
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