Study shows 99% on Indonesia's most populous island have COVID-19 antibodies

Almostall residents ofIndonesia'smostpopulousislandof JavahaveantibodiesagainstCOVID-19, owing to a combination of prior infection and vaccination against the virus, a government-commissioned survey showed.

The Marchstudyof 2,100 people, conducted on Java, home to 150 million people, and Bali,Indonesia'stop tourism destination, revealed 99.2 per centof people had covidantibodies, a 6 per centpoint increase from a December survey.

Pandu Riono, an epidemiologist at the University of Indonesia, which conducted the survey with the health ministry, on Monday told Reuters the antibody levels in the latest survey were higher due to a wider booster shot rollout, as recipients had stronger protection.

Indonesia'sdaily case numbershavedecreased significantly since a spike in February driven by the Omicron variant. About 60 per centof its 270 million peoplehavebeen vaccinated against covid.

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Pandu said the strongerantibodiesmay explain the faster rate at which Omicron variant infections declined in Indonesia.

The Decemberstudy, of 22,000 people, was conducted nationwide and showed 86 per centof Indonesians hadantibodies.

The world's largest Muslim-majority nation has recently loosened many of its pandemic restrictions, including waiving quarantine for foreign tourists and lifting a two-year ban on the mass exodus tradition during the Muslim holiday season of Eid al-Fitr.

Health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin on Monday said the survey was a factor in the government's assessment that the holiday "can go smoothly without bringing negative impacts on our people".

Thestudyclosely tracks recent data in Britain, where the percentage of adults withCOVIDantibodiesin the middle of March was nearly99 per cent, according to its Office for National Statistics.