Banda Aceh, Aceh (ANTARA) - Hotels and restaurants in Aceh Province have begun operating by implementing new normal health protocols to thwart the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association’s (PHRI’s) Aceh chapter stated.

"Since hotels and restaurants are allowed to operate since June 1, 2020, we have submitted to apply new normal health protocols," Secretary of Aceh's PHRI, Octowandi, stated here on Thursday.

Octowandi noted that the health protocols made it mandatory for both hotel and restaurant employees as well as guests to wear masks.

Furthermore, hotels and restaurants as well as other lodging and business ventures must provide hand sanitizers and places for washing hands.

"The most important aspect in implementing the health protocols is maintaining the safe required distance. We have conveyed this to all hotel and restaurant managements," Octowandi noted.

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Hotel guests from Aceh must be able to present a health certificate from the relevant agencies, while guests from outside Aceh, especially those from the red zone, must make it a point to include COVID-19 free letters.

Octowandi has urged hotel and restaurant managers in Aceh to adopt a serious approach in applying the health protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

"If not, the government's efforts to break the chain of coronavirus transmission would become ineffective. Hence, participation of all is necessitated in the steps to prevent the transmission of COVID-19," Octowandi stated.

The Indonesian government is currently implementing transitional large-scale social distancing toward the new normal in regions with less number of COVID-19 cases.

Under the new normal, hotels, restaurants, and tourist attractions are allowed to resume operations, albeit by applying stringent health protocols in accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO) standards.

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Translator: M Haris, SA, Fardah
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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