"The 1,100 hotel rooms are readied for asymptomatic (COVID-19) patients spread across North Sumatra," Chief of the PHRI Chapter in North Sumatra Denny S. Wardhana remarked here on Friday.
Wardhana noted that 600 of the 1,100 hotels rooms are in Medan, Binjai, and Deliserdang; 100 in Asahan and Kisaran; 100 in Siantar, Simalungun; 50 in Karo; and 250 in Nias.
The BNPB ordered for 1,100 hotel rooms to be prepared during a meeting with the North Sumatra Culture and Tourism Office and other related agencies, he stated.
Wardhana noted that the PHRI will soon write to the management of hotels in the province to respond to the order.
"In terms of the number, we can fulfill the order. In total, North Sumatra has an estimated five thousand hotel rooms. However, we must make sure whether the management of the hotels are willing (to accept the order)," he noted.
If the hotels accept the order, the PHRI will suggest room tariffs to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB)/the North Sumatra Provincial Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), he revealed.
Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has called on the governors of eight provinces, with the highest COVID-19 case load nationwide, to convert two- or three-star hotels into quarantine facilities for patients.
The hotels could serve as quarantine centers for asymptomatic patients, as well as for patients exhibiting mild symptoms, the minister's spokesperson, Jodi Mahardi, stated while adding that Pandjaitan had put forth the demand during a virtual coordination meeting on COVID-19 on Thursday (Sept 18, 2020).
North Sumatra is among the provinces, with the highest COVID-19 case load nationwide, apart from Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, Papua, and Bali.
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