Jokowi Hopes the COVID-19 Wisma Atlet Hospital is Not Needed
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23 March 2020 12:38 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia’s emergency COVID-19 hospital located at the Wisma Atlet Kemayoran (Kemayoran Athletes Village) had just been launched by President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo on Monday, which in the end is designed to accommodate 24,000 patients but is currently able to treat 3,000 patients.
The president announced that the hospital can be operable as soon as this afternoon with 4 towers ready to be used out of a total of 10 towers in the facility that was originally designed to accommodate athletes in the 2018 Asian Games.
” I do hope the emergency coronavirus hospital is eventually not needed. Meaning that the available hospitals which we have prepared can handle the coronavirus outbreak,” said the president at the Kemayoran facility on Monday.
So far, the government has appointed 130 hospitals specifically tasked to handle coronavirus cases across Indonesia, in addition to dozens of SOEs hospitals and police or military hospital facilities.
The government is also setting up a hospital exclusively to handle coronavirus cases located at two islands, Glang and Sebaru, which are expected to be completed this Saturday, March 28.
Indonesia’s coronavirus cases jumped to 514 cases on March 22 with 29 recoveries and 48 deaths. More than half of the cases are in Jakarta.
DEWI NURITA
