WEB DESK

Anand Vihar railway station located in the east of Delhi will not see any train service operate from its premises from Monday onwards as all platforms will be reserved for the deployment of Covid 19 isolation coaches, as per railway officials.

All trains to and from Anand Vihar will be moved to the Old Delhi station.

The development follows a decision to deploy 500 railway coaches, turned into isolation wards for treatment of around 8,000 coronavirus patients, to augment Delhi’s health infrastructure in view of the rapidly rising cases in the capital.

Delhi government currently has a total of 9,816 dedicated Covid-19 beds spread over hospitals in the city, both public and private. 5,399 of these beds are currently occupied as per data released by the health department on Saturday.

Delhi is only second to Maharashtra in terms of number of coronavirus patients. Its tally of coronavirus cases stands at 41,182 including 15,823 patients who have been cured or discharged. The death toll in the national capital is 1,327 as per health ministry data released on Sunday.

The Railways said on Sunday that it has deployed 204 isolation coaches in four states, including 54 at Delhi’s Shakurbasti railway station maintenance depot. The first batch of 10 coaches with a total capacity of 160 beds was deployed at Shakurbasti station in Delhi on May 31. Now, another 44 coaches have been deployed, said railways.

The coaches are equipped with necessary medical facilities such as oxygen cylinders, blankets, medical supplies, sterilized berths etc. The coaches, as per the original plan, were to be used for very mild cases that can be clinically assigned to the coronavirus care centres, according to the guidelines issued by the Health Ministry.

The railway ministry had informed earlier that these coaches-turned-isolation wards will also be equipped with mosquito nets, charging points for laptop and phones and the toilets inside have been modified into bathrooms.