TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia continues to decline. Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin opined that the low virus transmission occurred because many people had already acquired immunity.

“One of the scientific reasons behind the significant decline in cases in Indonesia is that many people already acquired immunity, either from vaccines or natural infection after they recovered from the disease,” said Budi in an online press conference broadcasted via the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube channel on Monday, October 11.

The government is still preparing a survey to determine the people's antibodies against the virus. “The results of this survey, which is expected to be completed in mid-December, can provide a complete picture of the immunity of our people in 34 provinces and become the basis for our future policies,” Budi added.

The survey will be conducted every six months in tandem with the World Health Organization or WHO, he informed.

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, said that compared to neighboring countries in ASEAN, Indonesia's number of positive cases was among the lowest.

Luhut said that in the past week the daily cases fell by 98.4 percent, and the number of confirmed cases in Java-Bali even plummeted by 98.9 percent from the peak on July 15, 2021.

“Besides the daily COVID-19 case numbers that continue to improve, the number of daily deaths in Indonesia also continues to decline. On October 10, there were 39 deaths nationwide with 17 of them in Java and Bali regions,” said Luhut.

Read: Indonesia's Downward Trend of COVID-19 Cases Not Due to Immunity, Expert Opines

DEWI NURITA