Indonesia to shut down largest COVID-19 hospital

Illustrative image (Photo: AFP)

Jakarta (VNA) – The Indonesian government has decided to discontinue its largest, makeshift COVID-19 hospital occupying the former Asian Games athletes’ village in Jakarta due to a steady decline in new cases.

The makeshift hospital was set up less than three weeks after the Health Ministry confirmed the country’s first COVID-19 cases on March 2, 2020. Since it became operational in March 2020, the facility has treated more than 132,000 COVID-19 patients.

The facility will formally end its function on December 31 due to a steady decline in the number of COVID-19 cases across Indonesia and a significant decrease in the bed occupation rate of the hospital, said head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Lieut. Gen Suharyanto.

He added that a similar facility on Galang island in the province of Riau Islands will also be closed down.

Earlier on December 21, President Joko Widodo indicated that his government will lift all social restrictions related to COVID-19 that have been in place for nearly three years, suggesting that the country is now well-equipped to deal with the ongoing pandemic.

The country of 273 million people has recorded 6.7 million cases and over 160,000 deaths since the pandemic began./.