Tanjungpinang, Batamnews - Corona virus subvariant Omicron XBB has entered Indonesia, including the Riau Islands Province. This was confirmed directly by the spokesman for the Riau Islands Covid-19 Handling Task Force, dr. Tjetjep Yudiana.

He revealed that cases of Omicron XBB and its derivatives were found in the Riau Islands region based on research results from the Batam Environmental Health and Disease Control Technical Center (BTKLPP).

"There is one case of Omicron XBB, Covid-19 subvariant, while the other 19 cases are derivative variants of Omicron XBB. The mutated Omicron XBB is named XBB 1," he said in Tanjungpinang Wednesday (9/11/2022), as reported by Antara.

"So 19 cases of mutated Omicron XBB have been found," he continued.

Tjetjep said that the Covid-19 patient samples studied at the BTKLPP Batam laboratory came from some hospitals in Batam City. This means all patients whose samples were taken had symptoms requiring hospitalization.

"How bad it is; we haven't gotten the information yet. However, the patients must have symptoms, so they must be treated," he said.

Covid-19 patient samples were taken from early September to November 6, 2022. Although only found in Batam, he said it did not mean that the virus had not entered other areas considering that people's mobility between islands or regions was quite high every day.

"The virus's potential to enter other areas in the Riau Islands is quite large. This is what needs to be prevented," he said.