LIPI closes four botanical gardens amid COVID-19 outbreak

A man exits Bogor Botanical Gardens in West Java on Thursday. To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) has temporarily closed four botanical gardens managed by LIPI: Bogor Botanical Garden, Cibodas Botanical Garden, Purwodadi Botanical Garden and Eka Karya Botanical Garden. (Antara/Arif Firmansyah)

The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) has closed four botanical gardens across Indonesia in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The four botanical gardens — Bogor Botanical Garden and Cibodas Botanical Garden in West Java, Purwodadi Botanical Garden in East Java and Eka Karya Botanical Garden in Bali — were closed on March 19 and will open again on March 30.

“LIPI is responsible for maintaining public health and safety amid the disease outbreak, and therefore we have closed those botanical gardens,” said LIPI head Laksana Tri Handoko on Thursday.
During the closure, the agency will sterilize all public facilities at the gardens.
LIPI will also organize a new arrangement for employees to ensure that maintenance at the gardens continues for the next two weeks.

“We hope that the botanical gardens will be more comfortable, neat and that all plants will be in good condition once we reopen those gardens,” said Hendrian, the head of the agency’s plant conservation research center. (JakartaPost)