Indonesia: Athlete Village to treat COVID-19 patients

By Erric Permana

JAKARTA (AA) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday said that his government has converted Jakarta-based Athlete Village into an emergency hospital for treating COVID-19 or coronavirus patients. The hospital has started operating on Monday.

The building can accommodate up to 24,000 patients. However, to start with, it will handle 3,000 patients.

“The hospital has been dedicated to handle COVID-19 patients only,” said the president after inspecting the hospital.

The Head of Information and Communications for the National Disaster Mitigation (BNPB) Agency, Agus Wibowo, said the emergency hospital will be operated by the Jakarta Military Garrison Command.

All volunteers who have registered to help to stem the pandemic will be also housed in the emergency hospital complex.

The ten-story Athletes Village was built for the 2018 Asian Games, which Jakarta co-hosted with Palembang, South Sumatra. It was constructed at a cost of 3.4 trillion Indonesian rupiahs ($204 million).

According to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, Indonesia has so far reported 579 cases of COVID-19, with 49 deaths. Currently, there are 500 active cases of COVID-19 in the country.

*Writing by Maria Elisa Hospital from Anadolu Agency's Indonesian language service