The new variant of Covid Mu appeared at a time when people were already fed up with PPKM.
By : Muhammad Fakhruddin, Journalist Republika.co.id
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, The Covid-19 pandemic in the country is showing signs of sloping. This raises public optimism that the Covid-19 pandemic will end soon.
A sense of optimism emerged as the restrictions on community activities began to be loosened. Even a number of attractions began to be tested. However, this pandemic has not really ended, now people are starting to be afraid of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 named Mu or B1621.
Another variant of this new coronavirus has been identified in South Africa. Currently, a number of studies suggest that it is possible that this variant is worse than Delta, which was first discovered in India and is known to be highly contagious.
The Genetic Working Group of the Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing (FKKMK) Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) stated that the new SARS-CoV-2 variant named Mu or B1621 was not more virulent than the Delta variant.
Head of the Genetics Working Group of FKKMK UGM, Dr. Gunadi, explained: your variant by WHO is categorized in variant of Interest (VoI) or that needs attention, while the Delta variant falls into the category Variant of Concern (VoC) or what to watch out for.
Although this new variant has not been detected in Indonesia, according to him, it needs to be anticipated because the Mu variant is known to cause a decrease in antibody levels either due to infection or vaccination.
The threat of Varian Mu along with the easing of the Varian Delta pandemic in the country has made the level of public attention to this new variant virus low. Even the public began to show symptoms of euphoria, as seen from the crowds of people.
It is feared that people who are already at the saturation point of the Covid-19 pandemic tend to ignore the possibility of a third wave of Covid-19. Moreover, until now there are still some people who do not believe in Covid-19. This is a challenge in itself for handling Covid-19 in the country.
In addition to accelerating vaccination, it is also necessary to continuously educate the public that life after this pandemic will not return to normal but will new normal. People must get used to new habits so that any variant that threatens does not have a fatal impact.
So that by itself Covid-19 will no longer be a pandemic but become endemic like previous outbreaks which are now under control along with the advent of vaccination.
In addition, the government’s anticipation of Varian Mu must also touch the substance, namely how to prevent deaths from Covid-19 which had peaked in the second wave of Covid-19.
This is what must be a shared focus, how even though the number of Covid-19 cases has increased again, it has not been followed by an increase in the number of deaths due to Covid-19, and even efforts must be made to prevent residents who have been exposed to Covid-19 from dying.
Efforts to control Covid-19, which are more touching on substantive matters, must be focused on improving health services. So that when the third wave actually occurs, health facilities in the country will be completely ready.
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