Guests, with recorded body temperature of 37.5 degrees Celcius, are required to leave and cannot enter the presidential palace
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Guests and officials entering the presidential palace in Central Jakarta are being subject to body temperature checks by an officer as a precautionary measure against the spread of Covid-19.

Deputy for Protocol, Press, and Media of the Presidential Secretariat Bey Machmudin stated that all guests, including ministers and leaders of state institutions entering the palace, were subject to body temperature checks from today, Tuesday (Mar 3).

"Guests, with recorded body temperature of 37.5 degrees Celcius, are required to leave and cannot enter the presidential palace," he remarked.

An officer has been conducting thermoscan surveillance to check the body temperature of every guest entering the palace via Jalan Majapahit and also Jalan Veteran III, according to Antara's observation on Tuesday.

Palace guests are not only obliged to pass through metal detectors to scan for explosives but also have to undergo body temperature checks conducted by members of the Presidential Security Forces (Paspampres).

He remarked that the body temperature checks would be conducted for the next two weeks and then be evaluated.

Body temperature checks were started after President Joko Widodo’s announcement of two Indonesian citizens having tested positive for COVID-19 infection on Monday.

Two citizens are currently undergoing treatment at RSPI Sulianti Saroso, North Jakarta.

"My body temperature was checked and was recorded at 36 degrees Celsius at the entrance. This check started today," Andhika Prasetyo, 28, one of the guests, stated.

An officer equipped with a gadget-sized device containing a heat sensor checks every guest by attaching it to the forehead.

The device automatically detects the body temperature.
Related news: Two coronavirus patients in Jakarta in good condition: health minister

Related news: 33 Batam residents had contact with dead Singaporean

EDITED BY INE

Translator: Indra Arief, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2020