JAKARTA – Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin today said that the country has set a target to produce special reagents for the S Gene Target Failure (SGTF) test to detect the Omicron variant.
According to Vietnam News Agency, Budi previously explained that the difference between the ordinary PCR test and the SGTF PCR test lies in the special reagent kit needed for SGTF.
The Health Ministry has collaborated with universities to make domestic products, he said, voicing a hope that in less than three months, the reagents that can carry out domestic SGTF testing will be developed.
The ministry so far has distributed a number of SGTF test kits at the country's ports of entry, either by land, sea, or air. These efforts are hoped to minimise the transmission rate of the Omicron variant in Indonesia.
On the same day, the Indonesian government decided to increase the number of PCR tests for arrivals during mandatory quarantine to three.
To date, Indonesia has reported 46 Covid-19 cases of the Omicron variant. The first one was reported on December 16, when a janitor at the Wisma Atlet Jakarta Hospital was infected with the new variant of the virus. – Bernama, December 28, 2021
