MPR Backs Uses of 27 Hajj Dormitories for Treating COVID-19 Patients

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Deputy Speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid has expressed support for the government's decision to use 27 hajj dormitories across Indonesia as self-isolation centers for COVID-19 patients.

To this end, the Ministry of Religious Affairs is suggested to coordinate with related ministries and National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), he said in a statement that ANTARA quoted here Sunday.

"May the preparation for necessary health facilities at the hajj dormitories be completed soon as several hospitals are being overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients," Wahid said.

Over the past few weeks, Jakarta and several other provinces across Indonesia have witnessed a significant increase in new COVID-19 cases in the midst of ongoing vaccination drives.

As a result, according to the government's COVID-19 Task Force, as of June 23, 2021, the bed occupancy rates at many referral hospitals in six provinces had exceeded 80 percent.

To prevent the country's hospitals from getting overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, the Ministry of Religious Affairs' decision to use hajj dormitories as self-isolation centers is appreciated, he said.

Indonesia's daily coronavirus cases climbed by 21,095 on Saturday, taking the total number of cases recorded since the start of the pandemic in March, 2020 to 2,093,962.

Jakarta added the highest number of daily cases at 9,271, followed by West Java (3,787), Central Java (2,305), East Java (989), and Yogyakarta (782).

Only North Kalimantan reported no new cases, according to the government's COVID-19 Task Force.

In response to the alarming resurgence of cases, President Joko Widodo has highlighted the necessity for state institutions and all levels of government to be on the same wavelength.

The current situation that Indonesia is facing is still an extraordinary one and must be responded to with fast and appropriate policies, the President added.

Such a fast and appropriate response requires state institutions, the central government, and regional governments to be on the same frequency, he said on Friday.

The COVID-19 pandemic initially struck the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019 and thereafter spread across the world, including to nations in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Indonesian government announced the nation's first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.

Since then, the central and regional governments have striven incessantly to flatten the nation's coronavirus curve by applying healthcare protocols and social restrictions.

As part of efforts to win the fight against COVID-19, the Indonesian government has also been conducting a nationwide vaccination program to contain infections since January 13, 2021.

Indonesia recently received 10 million doses of bulk vaccines from China's Sinovac.

As of June 20, 2021, the nation has received 104,728,400 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, comprising 94.5 million Sinovac vaccines, 8.228 million AstraZeneca vaccines, and 2 million Sinopharm vaccines.

The Indonesian Health Ministry has estimated that vaccinating the 181.5 million recipients targeted by the nationwide immunization program would take around 15 months.

Read: Indonesia's Daily Vaccination Rate Has Surpassed One Million Doses

ANTARA