Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia is ready to exit the emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, an epidemiologist from the University of Indonesia’s Faculty of Public Health, Iwan Ariawan, has said.
“The COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia is getting under control. Almost all of the population already has a fairly high level of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies,” he said at the “Meet the Expert: When Will the Pandemic End?” virtual event, which was followed from here on Friday.
Based on a report from the Ministry of Health, the number of daily COVID-19 cases in Indonesia has shown a downward trend in the past two weeks, with the average daily confirmed cases recorded at 2 thousand and the number of deaths falling to 18 on average from 20 previously.
In addition, the community transmission and COVID-19 response capacity as of September 21, 2022, has also shown a controlled situation, Ariawan said.
According to him, Indonesia is ready to exit the emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic through efforts to keep the community’s immunity at a high level.
Related news: Examining the opportunity to enter Covid’s endemic stage
Indonesia’s complete or two-dose vaccination coverage has reached an adequate level, namely 72.74 percent, he noted. Among older adults, complete vaccination coverage has reached 68.87 percent so far.
The proportion of Indonesian citizens with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies reached 87.8 percent in December 2021 and increased to 98.52 percent in July 2022.
The epidemiologist said that a third dose or booster vaccine dose would significantly reduce the risk of mortality among COVID-19 patients.
Based on the results of an analysis of 1,792,360 COVID-19 cases in Indonesia from January 1 to June 30, 2022, 2.8 percent of people who have never received the COVID-19 vaccine have a 28 times higher risk of fatality compared to those who have received the booster dose, he noted.
At least 1.5 percent of people who have received one COVID-19 shot have a 15 times higher risk of death than those who have received the booster vaccine.
Finally, 0.6 percent of people who have received the full dose of the COVID-19 vaccine face a six times higher mortality risk than those who have received the booster shot.
Related news: COVID-19: First dose vaccination coverage crosses 204 mlnRelated news: Third COVID dose coverage in Indonesia reaches 62.49 million