COVID-19 Cases In Indonesia Are Getting Under Control

ILLUSTRATIONS WHILE V0I

JAKARTA - Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin conveyed that COVID-19 cases in Indonesia are starting to be controlled as the reproduction number in Indonesia is heading to one.

Reproduction number is the average number of people infected as a result of exposure from one positive or sick person.

"Indonesia's reproduction number is getting closer to one. The so-called controlled epidemic from epidemiologists is if the reproduction number is below one," said Minister of Health Budi at the press conference "Guidelines for Health Protocols for Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr", Wednesday, 23 March.

This means, he continued, reproduction number one means that two people infect one person, or three people infect two people.

"If it is above one, it means that one person infects two people, or two people infects three people," he explained.

According to the Minister of Health, COVID-19 cases in Indonesia are expected to return to a situation like in October-November 2021, where Indonesia's reproduction number is below one.

"According to the estimates of the epidemiologists maybe the end of this month can return to the months of October-November," he said.

According to him, the control of COVID-19 cases in the country is in line with the fact that some Indonesians already have double antibodies or super immunity.

Minister of Health Budi assessed that many Indonesians have double antibodies after being hit by the Delta wave. After the Delta wave, many Indonesians vaccinated so that they had antibodies based on infection and vaccination.

Antibodies can be produced by natural infection or can be produced by artificial vaccination.

"The results of the study show that if there are people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 or vice versa, their immune system or body antibodies are very strong and last a long time," he said.