India to convert 500 train carriages into Covid-19 wards amid spike in cases

The plans would see 8,000 beds created for patients in the country's capital
Train carriages are being re-purposed to cope with the virus in Delhi
Reuters

Indian authorities in Delhi are planning to convert hundreds of train carriages into emergency Covid-19 wards to help the capital cope with a surge in cases.

More than 8,000 beds will be created by re-fitting 500 railway carriages.

The Hindustan Times has reported that Delhi is India's third worst-hit state, and the country's Home Minister Amit Shah announced the move - alongside a rapid increase in testing for coronavirus - as part of a package of new emergency measures.

The government also plans to use 40 hotels and 77 banquet halls as makeshift hospitals.

Railway carriages were also re-purposed into quarantine or isolation wards back in April, when large parts of the railway network were suspended due to the pandemic.

India's number of new Covid-19 cases confirmed daily has reached almost 12,000, the BBC has reported, although the death toll has remained comparatively low at between 9,000 and 10,000 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

India is thought to have the fourth-largest number of people testing positive for the virus overall, after the US, Brazil and Russia.

The country went into lockdown on March 25 but has eased measures and is seeing crowded markets and other public areas again this month. Measures were eased following widely-reported job losses and hardships as a result of lockdown measures, with millions facing economic hardship.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in