TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Association of Hotels and Restaurants (PHRI) has readied a total of 3,700 rooms at 27 hotels in Jakarta for patients that contracted the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) but exhibited no symptoms.

"We have readied rooms, especially for Jakarta. The number of hotels reaches 27, with some 3,700 rooms," PHRI Secretary General Maulana Yusran noted during a press conference with the National Task Force for COVID-19 Response at the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) building here on Friday.

Yusran cited the Jakarta government’s estimated requirement of three thousand hotel rooms as a precautionary measure against a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in the capital. Hence, the addition of 3,700 hotel rooms is expected to fulfill the hotel room requirements to accommodate asymptomatic patients.

"If the government requires three thousand rooms, I think (the number of available hotel rooms) will be sufficient. As one of the requirements, the hotels must be found in all areas, including Central, North, West, and South Jakarta," he remarked.

Asymptomatic patients will not be placed at the hotels simultaneously but gradually, he stated.

"We will look at occupancy at the Wisma Atlet (COVID-19 emergency hospital). We have discussed the matter with the task force. If the occupancy at Wisma Atlet has reached 80 percent, then the hotel rooms will be readied," he remarked.

The 3,700 rooms at 27 hotels comprise 1,605 rooms at 11 hotels in Central Jakarta, 557 rooms at five hotels in South Jakarta, 587 rooms at four hotels in East Jakarta, 602 rooms at five hotels in West Jakarta, and 360 rooms at two hotels in North Jakarta.

Read also: Indonesia's Daily Cases of Covid-19 Still High; 3,635 Today

ANTARA