Coronavirus pandemic | As COVID-19 cases rise, iconic spots turn into quarantine facilities in Mumbai

With the cases of coronavirus rising in Mumbai and reports suggesting both public and private hospitals struggling to admit patients — suspected, positive and those having other ailments — the city's civic body has started converting Mumbai's iconic places into quarantine facilities.

Officials of the civic authority said they are planning to set up over 100,000 beds in the coming days, and that the preparations are on in full swing.

According to an NDTV report, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is preparing for the worst-case scenario, which is over 75,000 cases in the city based on the doubling time seen in the city last month.

Now, however, the pace has slowed down, but BMC's additional commissioner Ashwini Bhide said while Mumbai may not reach that number by the end of May, "we continue to plan for worst-case scenario".

Places, including a nature park, planetarium and a stadium are being converted into quarantine facilities. Officials said the Wankhede Stadium, where the Indian Cricket Team had lifted the World Cup in 2011, was also in planning stages of being converted into a quarantine facility. However, the BMC has now scrapped that plan.

However, plans for creating quarantine facilities at Nehru Planetarium and Nehru Science Centre — both popular destinations for the city's school picnics — are still in the pipeline. While authorities are converting the latter into a 100-bed facility for slum dwellers, the former will have 500 beds housing asymptomatic patients.

Besides this, the city's historic Mahalaxmi Racecourse's parking lot has now been converted into a 300-bed isolation centre. The Mahim Nature Park, hosting over 120 species of birds and 75 species of butterflies, according to the NDTV report, will now have 1,200 beds to house high-risk contacts of positive patients near Dharavi.

Both Mahim and Dharavi areas in Mumbai have reported a significant amount of cases ever since the outbreak started in the city. For residents of Mumbai's slums, NESCO Grounds, popular for exhibitions and trade fairs, will now sleep over 1,200 asymptomatic patients.

"Earlier, I remember taking my children to some of these places. Now we are installing beds and medical facilities and admitting patients there. It is all a bit disturbing," a BMC Ward Officer told Moneycontrol.

With over 1,185 cases reported in Mumbai on May 18, the total number of coronavirus  cases in the city reached over 21,000. The financial capital has registered 757 virus-related deaths.