JAKARTA, March 23 — Indonesia has turned Wisma Atlet Kemayoran — formerly used as the Athletes’ Village for the 2018 Asian Games — into a temporary hospital for Covid-19 patients.

"Wisma Atlet has the capacity of 24,000 people and works are underway to prepare the place for patients, doctors, health workers and management staff,” said Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), who visited the premises today.

The video of the visit was shared on the official ‘Sekretariat Presiden’ YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/yWSdjoP3AKA.

"It can begin operations this afternoon, but hopefully there will not be a need to use it. I mean, hopefully, there will not be too many patients,” said Jokowi.

According to the Indonesian Government’s spokesman for Covid-19, Achmad Yurianto, it is feared that over 600,000 Indonesians are at risk of contracting the Covid-19 virus.

He said there were 65 new positive cases reported today, bringing the total number of positive cases in the country so far to 579.

"Another death was recorded today, bringing the death toll due to the virus to 49,” he added. — Bernama