As city reopens, 8000 more beds are being readied; Byculla, Mulund, Dahisar, Goregaon to get additional facilities

Also, 100 isolation and 20 ICU beds in every BMC ward; quarantine centre at Mahalaxmi Racecourse will be ready in two days

The state government has announced a slew of relaxations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) starting June 5. While there’s a chance of a spike in Covid numbers, the good news is the authorities in Mumbai have acquired 8,000 more beds, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Sunday. The government is readying additional facilities at Byculla, Mulund, Dahisar and Goregaon, where the beds will be installed, the minister said.

Work on the new facilities is in the final phase, Tope said, adding that the quarantine centre being built at Mahalaxmi Racecourse will be ready in two days. The government recently took over 53 private hospitals in Mumbai, making available 12,000 beds for patients, according to the minister. In Goregaon nearly 2,600 beds are ready. Mulund, Byculla and Dahisar will also get around 2,000 beds each.


The government is also installing 100 isolation beds and 20 ICU beds in every BMC ward. More than 38,000 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Mumbai in the past two months. More than 1,200 Covid-19 deaths have been recorded in the same period. If the number of cases continues to rise, hospitals in the city will struggle to accommodate patients - hence the urgent need for additional beds.

“Many people in the city, despite being asymptomatic, cannot isolate themselves at home. Homes are small, families are large. Hence creating isolation facilities is must for the government. The BMC has been told to look for more space to create isolation centres,” a health official told Mirror.