Health Minister Says Jakarta, Yogyakarta May Get Hit Hardest If Covid-19 Worsens

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin stated that Jakarta and Yogyakarta cities will likely face tough times if the Covid-19 spread continues to worsen in the next one to two weeks. Budi said the two provinces would experience a shortage of hospital beds, both for isolation and intensive care units.

“If [the Covid-19 trend] gets worse by 30 percent or about two to three percent per day within the next two weeks, Yogyakarta and Jakarta will get hardest hit,” said Budi in a working meeting with Commission IX of the House of Representatives (DPR) on Tuesday, July 13.

Budi said the government had prepared scenarios about the Covid-19 handling two weeks ago and had regular discussions with the governors. According to him, there are two different strategies applied to Yogyakarta and Jakarta.

For Yogyakarta, he explained, the ministry would convert hospital beds into Covid-19 isolation beds. Once converted, the bed occupancy rate (BOR) would decline.

Meanwhile in the capital city, more than 50 percent of hospital beds have been converted into Covid-19 isolation beds. Thus, the government changed several large hospitals into special Covid-19 facilities and set up the field or emergency hospitals.

Additionally, the ministry collaborated with the State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) to convert one building into an ICU room. “It will be a full ICU room with 100 beds. Patients developing heavy symptoms can be immediately moved there,” said Health Minister Budi Gunadi.

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BUDIARTI UTAMI PUTRI