Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – An epidemiologist from the University of Indonesia, Pandu Riono, has said that the natural immunity obtained by COVID-19 survivors in Indonesia has greatly contributed to the decline in the rate of cases in the country.

There are quite a lot of infected people in Indonesia who already have immunity. With these conditions and being vaccinated, the efforts to reduce the positive cases become more effective, Pandu Riono stated when talked at an ANTARA Talkshow on Thursday (Oct. 21), Antara News Agency reported.

Pandu highlighted that a COVID-19 survivor who then received vaccine shots was confirmed to have very high levels of immunity.

"Sometimes we call it super immunity because the immune level is high," he said.

A survey in Jakarta in March 2021 showed that almost half of the population had been infected with SARS-Cov-2, which was dominated by women.

"As many as 44 percent of the people already have antibodies because they have been infected while there were still few vaccinations in March," explained Pandu.

According to him, the combination of restrictions on community activities, vaccination against COVID-19, and natural immunity of survivors really helps Indonesia become a country with a low rate of infection cases compared to other countries.

Pandu said the strategy needs to be maintained as Indonesia is predicted to face the third wave of COVID-19 which is estimated to take place in early 2022.

In fact, he added, a number of neighboring countries such as Australia and Singapore adopted Indonesia’s strategy.

"There is no way they could reach zero cases, because this is not a simple contagion, and in the end they should give up and follow us indirectly," he said.

Pandu reminded that the COVID-19 is still threatening, and therefore all people should make efforts in anticipating infection and death cases by increasing the number of vaccine shot recipients.

Reporting by Indonesia Window