With coronavirus situation improving, Delhi delinks hotels from hospitals

Kejriwal said all beds in such hotels, which were last month attached to hospitals to work as COVID care centres, were lying vacant for the past many days. The decision was taken after the chief minister reviewed the COVID-19 situation in the city.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday announced delinking of hotels from hospitals in view of the “improving” COVID-19 situation in the national capital. Kejriwal said all beds in such hotels, which were last month attached to hospitals to work as COVID care centres, were lying vacant for the past many days.

The decision was taken after the chief minister reviewed the COVID-19 situation in the city. "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," Kejriwal tweeted.

After the city witnessed a surge in number of COVID-19 cases last month, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had attached around 40 hotels to hospitals to increase the bed capacity in the city. According to the Delhi government health bulletin, 12, 980 COVID-19 beds in hospitals and 4,026 beds in dedicated COVID care centres were lying vacant due to declining number of active coronavirus cases.

The number of active cases of COVID-19 was 10,770 on Wednesday, with 5,894 patients recuperating under home isolation. In June, the government had decided to convert several hotels, including five-star Taj Mansingh and Surya Hotel, into COVID-19 facilities. Three hotels in south west Delhi were delinked earlier this month from their respective hospitals due to low occupancy. But the decision was reversed by the district authorities within a day. Patients with moderate symptoms staying at such hotels were to be given basic healthcare and were to be shifted to the attached hospitals in case their condition worsened. The Delhi government said in a statement Wednesday that the number of cases in the city were increasing in early June, therefore, COVID care centres were established in about three dozen hotels, besides increasing beds in government and private hospitals. "Although some hotel owners initially went to court against the decision of the Delhi government, the Delhi government won the case. During the surge in coronavirus cases, many patients were kept in hotels," it stated.