New Delhi, November 19: The government of the National Capital Territory (NCT) is taking expedited measures to ramp up the health infrastructure in view of the escalating COVID-19 cases. On Thursday, 42 private hospitals operating in Delhi were asked by the government to reserve 80 percent of their beds for coronavirus patients. Delhi Increases Fine For Not Wearing Face Masks to Rs 2,000 Amid COVID-19 Surge in National Capital.

As per the order, if non-COVID-19 patients have occupied more than 20 percent of the beds, they would be allowed to complete their treatment. But after they are discharged, the hospitals are necessitated to reserve four-fifths of their beds only for the patients infected with the contagious disease.

Order Issued by Delhi Govt

Delhi, which is in the midst of a third wave of the pandemic, has reported more a sharp surge in coronavirus cases over the past three weeks. The tally of active infections has hovered above 40,000 -- nearly four times higher than August-end. The overall count of infections crossed 5 lakh on Wednesday.

To ramp up Delhi’s medical infrastructure, all 75 doctors and 251 paramedics from CAPF were deployed on duty. 50 doctors and 175 paramedics were deployed at Chhatarpur and Shakur Basti COVID care centre, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said.

"About 150 ICU beds added in the last 3 days in Delhi. Also, current capacity of 3652 ICU beds will be further ramped up. Train coaches with 800 beds at Shakur Basti railway station to become functional. Doctors and paramedics from CAPF to man these coaches," the MHA added.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 19, 2020 09:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).