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State Palace to check guests' body temperature following confirmed COVID-19 cases
Presidential Secretariat deputy head of protocol, press and media Bey Triadi Machmudin said every guest would be checked, including Cabinet ministers and state agency heads.
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Health authority officials check the body temperature of a ship passenger from Malaysia using a non-contact thermometer at the International Port of PT Pelindo I Dumai in Dumai, Riau, Sunday (02/23/2020). The Indonesian government pays serious attention to efforts to prevent the spread of the Corona virus (2019-nCOV) by conducting health checks on every arrival of passengers from abroad since the discovery of a number of new cases and deaths due to infection with the virus in a number of countries. (Antara/Aswaddy Hamid)
The State Palace has enforced a body temperature check for every guest who enters the palace complex starting Tuesday, as a precaution against the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 in the country.
Presidential Secretariat deputy head of protocol, press and media Bey Triadi Machmudin said every guest would be checked, including Cabinet ministers and state agency heads.
“We will turn away people with a body temperature above 37.5 degrees Celsius, restricting them from entering the State Palace,” Bey said.
Read also: House calls for stronger measures following confirmed COVID-19 cases in Indonesia
The Jakarta Post observed on Tuesday morning that every guest entering the palace area through an entrance at Jl. Majapahit and Jl. Veteran III had to undergo a temperature check using thermal scanners. The temperature checks are performed by personnel of the Presidential Security Detail.
Prior to Tuesday, the State Palace’s guests only had to pass through a metal detector before entering the palace area.
Bey added the temperature check would be conducted for two weeks. The policy would be evaluated later, he went on to say.
The temperature checks were enforced following President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo's announcement on Monday of the first two confirmed COVID-19 cases in Indonesia. The COVID-19 patients are currently receiving treatment in isolation rooms at Sulianti Saroso Infectious Diseases Hospital (RSPI) in Jakarta. (dpk)
