80% Indonesians Have Been Infected with Delta Variant: Expert

TheIndonesia.co - An expert said up to 80 percent of Indonesians have been infected with the COVID-19 Delta variant. The high estimated figure could be the reason behind the decreasing number of cases within the last few weeks.

“COVID infection of more than 50 percent is asymptomatic, and probably 80 percent of our citizens have been infected with Delta variant. In most cases, natural infection triggers the production of antibodies against the infecting virus or strain,” epidemiologist from Gadjah Mada University Citra Indriani said on Monday, November 22, 2021. She hints that herd immunity may have been achieved from the large estimated number of infections, hence low reported cases as of lately.

However, she also warned that the antibody triggered by the Delta variant would not be able to fight other strains. Therefore, preventive measures must be taken immediately, so Indonesia can cope with potential new variants or strains in the future.

“The natural immunity that we’ve achieved now is not reliable when we’re faced with new strains,” she added.

According to her, accelerating vaccination becomes more and more important to avoid the inevitable impacts of a high infection rate. And as of currently, vaccination has been proven to effectively reduce the hospitalization rate.

“We’re counting on accelerating vaccination, especially for the elderlies. [It] can help mitigate and prevent a worrying SARS-CoV-2 infection. If the third wave happens, our health system will not have to face thousands of severe cases every day,” she explained.

Despite the gradual drop in cases, Indriani said authorities should remain alert and continue to monitor public movement, particularly during the upcoming year-end holidays.

It’s also worth noting that Indonesia’s neighboring countries, such as Malaysia and Singapore, have started the battle against the newest variant AY.4.2.

“Increase in mobility is inevitable. [However] looking back, during the last 1.5 years of the pandemic, case spike has always been preceded by escalated mobility,” the expert warned.

In Indonesia, COVID-19 has infected 4,253,412 people with more than 143,739 death tolls. Currently, there are 8,126 active cases.