RI activates early detection system to prevent Mpox importations

Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo has decided to reactivate the early detection system for the nation's infectious diseases to prevent domestic importation of Mpox, whose current outbreak was declared a public health emergency.

"Mr President decided to reactivate our electronic surveillance card or as we know earlier as Pedulilindungi (during the COVID-19 pandemic)," Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin stated in connection with the president's decision following a meeting at the Presidential Palace Complex here on Tuesday.

The system reactivation would bolster the government's surveillance against the emergence of a newer Mpox strain, known as 1B, which has a higher fatality rate than the more known 2B strain.

"The fatality rate of the new strain is close to 10 percent, compared with 0.1 percent that comes from earlier variants," he pointed out.

With the system in place, every person arriving in Indonesia from international travel will be required to log his or her health and travel history on the electronic surveillance card.

According to the risk criteria, the system will then determine whether the person's health status is green, yellow, or red that denotes high risk.

"Any person whose status is yellow and red will have their body temperature checked. If their temperature is high and we find rashes on their body, then they should undergo the PCR test," the minister explained.

Any person whose PCR test yields a Mpox positive result will be immediately placed at the isolation facility in the hospital. Sumadi remarked that the government has also prepared antiviral medicines to help those infected with Mpox.

Sadikin revealed that the ministry has readied PCR test machines in Jakarta, the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Banten, and Bali. The machines, capable of detecting Mpox virus within 30 to 40 minutes, are ready to use, he added.

"We selected those locations because we will host the Asian-African leaders meeting. Hence, anyone who has a travel history to Africa and a high body temperature will be examined," he remarked.