Indonesia To Deploy People Infected With COVID-19 To Uninhabited Island - Reports

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th March, 2020) The Indonesian government is going to use a former camp for Vietnamese refugees on the uninhabited island of Galang, the Riau Islands, to treat those infected with the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Indonesian media reported on Thursday.

Earlier this week, Indonesia confirmed the first two cases of COVID-19 in the country.

Several facilities of the former refugee camp, which had been in use in 1979-1996, can be transformed into a hospital for the COVID-19 patients, The Jakarta Post newspaper reported, citing Indonesian Military commander Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto.

According to the official, the medical center would also be used to quarantine those with suspected COVID-19.

"We shall see if this is the right time to turn the location into a special hospital to treat patients infected with novel coronavirus. Hopefully, this plan will be realized soon and the hospital can be put to use immediately, especially if there are infected patients near Galang Island," Hadi said, as quoted by The Jakarta Post.

More than 95,000 people worldwide have been infected with the novel strain of the coronavirus, the vast majority of them in China that is an epicenter of the epidemic. More than 3,200 people have died, but over 53,000 have recovered after the treatment.