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COVID-19: Theological school in Central Jakarta designated ‘red zone’
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Officers stand guard at the exit The Bethel Indonesia School of Theology Boarding house, Petamburan, Jakarta, on Friday, April 17, 2020. Commander of the Joint Regional Defense Command (Kogabwilhan) I Vice Admiral Yudo Margono said as many as 36 students who inhabited the dormitory tested positive for the corona-virus (COVID-19) and currently 180 students undergoing independent isolation. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
T
he Bethel Indonesia School of Theology in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, has been designated a “red zone” following mounting reports of COVID-19 cases in its vicinity.
“Initially, there were three people who contracted COVID-19. One of them died. The [number of cases] continued to rise after that,” said Herlani, a community head in Petamburan subdistrict, on Friday as quoted by Antara news agency.
As the number of cases in the vicinity continued to grow, the Jakarta administration deployed health workers to transfer 36 confirmed patients from the area to the makeshift COVID-19 hospital in the Kemayoran Athletes Village for intensive treatment on Thursday.
“Health officials have returned to pick up more students from the school dormitory,” Herlani said.
To ensure public safety, the Jakarta Health Agency and the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) disinfected the school dorm. Local police have secured the premises.
Joint Defense Area Command (Kogabwilhan) I commander Rear Adm. Yudo Margono confirmed that 36 students at the school had been found to have COVID-19.
Earlier this month, 127 tested positive after rapid tests were carried out on hundreds of people who attended a religious seminar at the Lembang Bethel Church of Indonesia (GBI) in Bandung, West Java.
About 2,000 people had attended the event between March 2 and 6.
On March 21, a pastor who attended the seminar died after testing positive for COVID-19. His wife also contracted the disease and died about a week later.
It is currently unclear whether the infected students in Jakarta had attended the seminar in Bandung. (rfa)
