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Depok makes space to house frontline workers, people with mild COVID-19 symptoms
The Greater Jakarta city is converting a variety of facilities to accommodate medical workers, who have experienced social discrimination in regions across the country for being on the front lines of Indonesia's fight against COVID-19.
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A medical worker takes a throat swab sample for a COVID-19 test on April 6, 2020 in Depok, West Java. (AFP/STR )
T
he Depok administration is preparing a special "hostel" for medical workers and people with suspected COVID-19 infection to prevent local transmission of the virus.
Depok Mayor Mohammad Idris said that the hostel would have around 200 rooms ready for use by next week.
“We are still preparing [the hostel]. We expect it to be completed by next week.” Idris said on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.
Read also: 84 health workers, including two pregnant women, test positive for COVID-19 in Jakarta
Other institutions in Depok providing accommodation for medical workers include the University of Indonesia (UI) Hospital, which has converted a guest house to offer a space so medical workers can rest. The guest house has 21 rooms that can hold up to 48 beds.
The Bhayangkara Brimob Hospital is also converting a polyclinic into a quarantine facility where medical workers can be isolated when they are off-duty.
Further, the Depok administration plans to convert a vocational school with around 100 rooms into a makeshift medical facility like the Kemayoran Athletes Village.
The facility would be used to accommodate people under monitoring (ODP) and to treat patients under surveillance (PDP), the mayor said.
ODP and PDP are official designations Indonesia is using to differentiate people according to the symptoms they present and their travel history.
Read also: COVID-19: Public initiatives grow to produce face shields to help medical workers
“We are preparing spaces for ODPs who […] cannot self-isolate at home,” said Idris.
Separately, Health Agency head Novarita said that the facility was expected to accommodate more than one person per room, whether an ODP or a PDP with mild symptoms.
The Depok administration has so far advised ODPs and PDPs with mild symptoms to self-isolate at home.
Depok, a satellite city to the south of Jakarta, the epicenter of the Indonesian outbreak, recorded 65 confirmed cases of COVID-19 to date, as well as 1,897 ODPs and 451 PDPs. (dfr)
