Indonesia lifting all COVID curbs nationwide

Almost three years after officials announced the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Indonesia, the country’s leader said Friday they were lifting all coronavirus-related restrictions nationwide. President Joko Widodo said Indonesia’s COVID-19 situation was under control after observing improvements over the past 10 months, allowing the country to abandon the large-scale social restrictions on crowds.

However, Widodo called on people to remain careful and alert. A study found that almost all Indonesians have developed antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. In July, researchers with the Health Ministry and the University of Indonesia examined blood samples from 20,501 individuals in 100 cities across the archipelago and found that 98.5% of the respondents had antibodies against the virus, due to either vaccination or past infection.