Batam, Riau Islands (ANTARA) - The chartered Batik Air plane carrying 245 Indonesians from Wuhan city, China, has arrived at Hang Nadim Airport in Batam, Riau Islands at 8.45 a.m. on Sunday.
All the passengers would be flown to Natuna Islands where they will be quarantined.
The Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU) has prepared three planes to carry the Indonesians to Natuna.
Chief of the Operations Division of the Hang Nadim Airbase Major Lek Wardoyo said on Saturday, the Indonesian Air Force readied two Boeing planes and one Hercules plane to help evacuate the Indonesians who have just returned from Wuhan.
The Hercules plane has a seating capacity of 100 to 130 people, while the Boeing planes have room for 100 people each. The planes will be staffed with medical workers, he noted.
He added that the Indonesians will be flown to Natuna aboard the three planes, shortly after arriving from Wuhan.
It takes one hour 20 minutes to fly from Batam to Natuna.
Chief of the Batam Port Health Office, I Achmad Farchanny, said it will take a maximum of one hour for the Indonesians to change flights at Hang Nadim Airport.
"We will try to do it as quickly as possible, one hour at the most," he said.
All the passengers from Wuhan will have their temperatures and health checked aboard the plane carrying them from Wuhan, he said.
If any passengers are showing symptoms of coronavirus, they will be isolated from the others.
The government has assigned Embung Fatimah Regional General Hospital to be a referral hospital to treat patients infected with coronavirus.
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