Certificates and stickers attesting the hotel operators have successfully passed the verification process were handed over by Yogyakarta Deputy Mayor Heroe Poerwadi to representatives of the hotels at an event here.
The issuance of certificates of verification is part of the government's endeavors to ensure customer safety and comfort during their stay at their chosen hotels in Yogyakarta amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation, he said.
Hotel operators who have received the certificates will need to display them on their reception desks to let customers know of their successful implementation of the government's health protocols, he added.
So far, 29 tourism-related business entities have applied for the certificates of verification to the Yogyakarta city government's tourism office through its official website, pariwisata.jogjakota.go.id.
Six of the 29 applicants have successfully passed the verification process, he added.
Coronavirus infections initially surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019, while the Indonesian government officially announced the country's first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.
To tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the Indonesian economy contracting 5.32 percent in the second quarter of this year, the government is leaving no stone unturned, especially in the development of a vaccine against the virus.
Currently, in addition to the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, Indonesian scientists are working on a vaccine named after the country's national flag, Merah Putih (Red and White).
The discovery of the COVID-19 vaccine in early 2021 may help Indonesia's economy to recover at the latest by mid-2021, according to Iman Sugema, a senior economist with the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef).
"Economic recovery really relies on how immediate the discovery of the COVID-19 vaccine is. If it can be reached on time, Indonesia's economy will rebound in mid-2021," Sugema predicted. (INE)
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Translator: Eka AR, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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