NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has decided to delink 40 hotels which were earlier attached to different hospitals treating COVID-19 patients to augment the capacity in view of rising cases. According to CM Arvind Kejriwal, the reducing number of active cases in the national capital prompted the administration to take the decision.
The government had earlier attached the hotels to hospitals anticipating a shortage of beds in both government and private facilities given the rapid spread of the virus. During this time, the decision was made to enhance the overall bed capacity in the city by converting various hotels, banquet halls, stadiums and similar premises into makeshift hospitals.
“Some hotels were attached to hospitals to increase the number of COVID beds. In view of the improving situation and all hotel beds lying vacant for the last many days, these hotels are now being released,” the CM tweeted. Earlier, renowned hotels like Taj Mansingh, Hyatt Regency, and Pullman among others were attached to COVID hospitals.
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Kejriwal had earlier visited Surya Hotel, a similar facility attached by the government. According to the Delhi government health bulletin, 12,980 COVID beds in hospitals and 4,026 beds in dedicated COVID care centres were lying vacant due to the declining number of active coronavirus cases. The number of active COVID-19 cases was 10,770 on Wednesday, with 5,894 patients recuperating under home isolation.
Three hotels in southwest Delhi were earlier delinked from their respective hospitals due to low occupancy. But the decision was reversed by the district authorities within a day. In these hotels which were used as paid healthcare facilities, the government had put an upper price cap of `10,000 per day for providing housekeeping, food and medical services.
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Renowned hotels like Taj Mansingh, Hyatt Regency and Pullman, among others, were attached to COVID hospitals to increase the number of beds. The government had put an upper price cap of Rs 10,000 per day for providing housekeeping, food and medical services at these facilties