Airlangga Brings Good News: The Government Operates 6 Pelni Vessels To Isolate COVID-19 Patients

KM Umsini is one of the Pelni ships that is used as a centralized isolation place (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said that the government provided a centralized isolation place for COVID-19 patients by utilizing a fleet owned by PT Pelayaran Nasional Indonesia (Pelni).

He conveyed this when holding a press conference on the extension of the Implementation of Restrictions on Community Activities (PPKM) tonight.

According to Airlangga, this step is expected to reduce the number of pandemics that tend to increase in a number of regions in Indonesia. In his statement, Airlangga also said that the fleet used had been adjusted to specifications so that it was suitable to be used as an isolation location.

"The government provides the Isoter ship, which is a centralized isolation ship that uses the Pelni fleet," he said virtually, Monday, August 23.

Airlangga added that the six Isoter ships have thousands of beds and are deployed in various locations in the country that are considered to require extra handling.

"The number of available beds is 3,596 beds with six ships spread across the archipelago," he said.

Meanwhile, the six areas referred to by him are Medan with KM Bukit Raya with a capacity of 463 beds, Lampung with KM Lawit with 437 beds, Makassar KM Umsini with 849 beds.

Then, in Bitung with a fleet of 458 beds, Sorong with KM Sirimau with 460 beds, and in Jayapura with KM Tidar with a capacity of 929 beds.

"This (Isoter ship in Jayapura) will also continue to be prepared for the PON (National Sports Week) later," he said.

For information, outside the Java-Bali area, the centralized isolation location provided by the government is 40,983 beds with a bed occupancy rate (BOR) of 27 percent as of August 21.