TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A recent survey by Statistics Indonesia (BPS) revealed that 17 percent of respondents believed they would not be infected with COVID-19. BPS head Suhariyanto detailed 12.5 percent of the respondents said it was impossible they could get infected with the virus, while the remaining 4.5 percent believed it was highly impossible.

“Seventeen out of 100 respondents said they would not get COVID-19. I think this [number] is quite high,” said Suhariyanto, or known as Kecuk, on a virtual press conference on Monday, September 28, 2020.

Meanwhile, 19.3 percent of respondents thought it was highly possible they could contract COVID-19, 29.4 percent it was possible, and 34.4 percent said it was somewhat possible.

The survey was conducted online from September 7-14, 2020, and involved 90,967 respondents. The majority or 69.01 percent aged 17-45 years. As many as 46.23 percent had a minimum education of bachelor’s degree.

According to Kecuk, the perception of not having the possibility to contract the coronavirus disease emerged in all age groups. However, respondents with higher education believed more in the dangers of COVID-19 than those with low education.

With the BPS survey results, Kecuk concluded that the government needed to be more aggressive in educating the public about COVID-19 regardless of gender, age, education, and others.

COVID-19 mitigation head Doni Monardo considered 17 percent of the respondents a high number. If calculated from the percentage of Indonesia’s population, it meant 45 million people strongly believed they would not get infected with COVID-19.

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