Jakarta (ANTARA) - The third stage sero survey to determine the number of people in Indonesia who already have antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 virus, the cause of COVID-19, will be held from June to July 2022, the Health Minister stated.
"We will conduct the third sero survey at the end of June 2022 so that the result on our people's antibody condition will be out by the third week of July 2022," Budi Gunadi Sadikin noted.
During the Health Transformation virtual agenda on Wednesday, he explained that the sero survey will become a scientific evidence-based input for President Joko Widodo to make a decision concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Hopefully, in August 2022, the president can make a decision related to Indonesia's independence," he said.
The sero survey is held in collaboration with University of Indonesia's Faculty of Medicine (FKUI).
On a separate occasion, FKUI Epidemiologist Pandu Riono noted that the third sero survey is being carried out by choosing population that already has antibodies due to the government's vaccination program or COVID-19 infections.
"We will do it across Indonesia. We will take blood samples to be analyzed," he noted.
The second largest survey in the world after India is done by gathering information and data from respondents that encompasses COVID-19 prevalence estimations with population rates according to age, sex, and residence characteristics.
This will determine the proportion of symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases, as well as discover factors related to COVID-19 infections in Indonesia.
The result of the first sero survey in November-December 2021 showed that 86.6 percent of the Indonesian population already has antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.
In the second stage, in April 2022, the figure increased to 99.2 percent.
Riono believes that Indonesians' high antibody rate can reduce the risk of negative impacts that come from COVID-19 infections.
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