The Yogyakarta COVID-19 Handling Shelter Has 10 Patients Left

Shelter for handling COVID-19 in Yogyakarta/Photo: Antara

YOGYAKARTA - The Yogyakarta City Health Office stated that the main shelter for handling COVID-19 patients in the city is now only occupied by around 10 patients out of a total capacity of up to 84 people.

“Of the three shelters that have been prepared, only one shelter is currently still accommodating patients. The numbers are not large,” said the Head of the Referral Health Service Section of the Yogyakarta City Health Service, Okto Heru Santosa in Yogyakarta, Monday, March 21.

The city of Yogyakarta operates three shelters for handling COVID-19 patients with mild or asymptomatic symptoms who cannot undergo self-isolation at home, namely in Tower 1 and Tower 2 of Rusunawa Bener and Rusunawa Gemawang.

According to Okto, the peak occupancy of the shelter for handling COVID-19 patients in the city of Yogyakarta occurred in the second and third weeks of February 2022. At that time there was even a queue of patients to enter Tower 1 in Rusunawa Bener.

"At that time, there was a queue of 29 patients, so there was a change in the strategy for filling each simple flats (rusunawa) unit and then Tower 2 was operated, but only for units on the second and third floors," he said, quoted by Antara.

If the shelter is not able to accommodate, he said, then the patient will be transferred to a treatment shelter managed by the DIY Government, namely the Mutiara Hotel.

According to the operational policy, the first floor in each shelter is prioritized for the elderly, pregnant women, and children, while the floor above is used for other residents.

Okto explained that the patients treated in the shelter were not only residents of the city of Yogyakarta, but there were also travelers from outside the area who underwent isolation in the shelter.

"In early February, in fact, many travelers from outside the region used isolation shelters because when they returned to their hometowns, they got positive results of COVID-19 tests," he said.

Meanwhile, the Daily Head of the Yogyakarta City COVID-19 Handling Task Force Heroe Poerwadi said the graph of active cases showed a downward trend and had already passed the peak of cases.

"Currently, the number of cases is decreasing, but we are still testing close contacts even though there has been a decline for independent testing from the community," he said.

Based on data, as of Sunday (20/3) there were 790 active cases in the city of Yogyakarta, a decrease compared to Saturday (19/3) with 838 active cases.