Covid myths give Indonesians a sense of invincibility

In Indonesia, a new survey has found alarming levels of scepticism about the pandemic, most prevalent among young and educated Indonesians.

Officials stand around a motorist after he was stopped at a checkpoint for not wearing a face mask in Banda Aceh on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

As a former heavy smoker who swapped a 12-cigarette-a-day habit for cycling after he was diagnosed with lung disease, Andri Kusmanto is at a higher risk from the coronavirus pandemic.

Yet the 40-year-old techie believes he is immune from the virus that has now killed more than a million people worldwide but which he thinks is little worse than a common cold.

And he is far from alone.

In Indonesia, a new survey by the government statistics office has found alarming levels of scepticism about the pandemic, most prevalent among young and educated Indonesians. The survey, conducted in the first two weeks of September, showed that 17 per cent of respondents said they would not get infected by COVID-19. This could mean about 45 million Indonesians believe it was impossible for them to get the disease.

The agency’s head, Dr Suhariyanto, says a majority of the respondents were aged from 17 to 45 (69 per cent) and most had a bachelor’s degree.

“The people who believe they wouldn’t get infected with COVID-19 were found across all ages,” Dr Suhariyanto said earlier this week.

On Tuesday, Indonesia’s COVID-19 taskforce said it was concerned about the “perception held by some members of the public who think they are immune to the virus”.

“Nobody is immune to COVID-19. This virus doesn’t differentiate between old or young, poor or rich. Don’t think that you are immune because you exercise regularly or stay at home,” said taskforce spokesman Wiku ­Adisasmito.

“I just don’t think I would be ­affected by it,” Jakarta resident Andri said. “I have a healthy lifestyle and have survived many bouts of cold.”

Sociologist Sulfikar Amir from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University blamed “institutional failure and ineffective communication” for the lower perception of risk held by part of the Indonesian population. “Mixed and unclear messages (from the government) have caused public confusion since the early stages of the pandemic,” Professor Sulfikar said, referring to the early months when Indo­nesian officials downplayed the risks of the virus.

“The fact that they were in ­denial in the beginning and did not take the necessary response … created the space for false information to spread among people, many of whom said that this pandemic is a conspiracy.”

In South Tangerang, about 30km outside Jakarta, 29-year-old Fitry Yusuf is certain that COVID-19 won’t affect her or her family.

“The more news I read about it, the more I think that it’s overhyped,” she said. “I have read it’s a conspiracy, I’ve read that it’s made in a lab in China, and so on. It’s very distracting.”

Last week, the WHO and UN held a webinar with the gov­ernments of Indonesia, Thailand, and Uruguay to bring attention to the harm being done by the spread of misinformation and disinformation.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed out that misleading information “puts health and lives at risk and undermines trust in science”.

“False information is hindering the response to the pandemic so we must join forces to fight it and to promote science-based public health advice,” Dr Tedros said.