VIDEO: Ferry Turns into Covid-19 Recovery Center in Indonesia

A large ferry that used to travel up to 2,000 passengers between Indonesian island cities, called the KM Umsini has now been converted into an isolation center in the Indonesian port city of Makassar for patients with minor symptoms of COVID-19, which is rapidly spreading across the country. 

More than 800 beds have been installed on the ship. A group of sixty personnel from the medical field takes turns rotating through shifts to provide care to patients. 

The patients are required to spend 10 days in isolation, during which time they are routinely medically examined and allowed to engage in recreational activities on the ship’s deck such as exercising to music as well as fishing. 

By implementing severe mobility controls in Java and Bali during the first week of July, Indonesia tried to stave off the spread of the Delta strain and then continued to apply more restrictions throughout the rest of the country. South Sulawesi is the province in which Makassar is located, and the impact has affected more than 8.8 million people who reside there.