ITBP's Covid-19 centre in Delhi re-operationalised, 150 admitted

Amid the recent surge in coronavirus cases, border guarding force Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has re-operationalised its public Covid care centre in south Delhi with a total of 150 patients admitted to the facility at present, officials said on Monday.

They said the centre, run by the doctors and paramedics of the ITBP with the administrative support from the Delhi government, started admitting fresh patients beginning January 4 after a long period of lull when COVID-19 infections had drastically reduced in the national capital as well as other parts of the country.

"The SPCCC (Sardar Patel COVID care centre) was never shut but as the cases reduced, the centre was functioning at its optimum. Fresh admissions began recently on January 4 and there are 150 patients admitted there as of today.

"All patients are stable while two others have been discharged on referral," ITBP spokesperson Vivek Kumar Pandey told PTI.

Out of total 150 patients admitted, 39 are women.

The facility has a total capacity of 500 beds apart from 150 equipped with ventilator facility.

The centre at the Radha Soami Beas campus in south Delhi's Chhattarpur area was first activated in July, 2020 and shut in February last year as the number of coronavirus infections declined in the national capital.

It again began operations on April 26 last year after the Delhi government requested the Union government to operationalise the facility in view of the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases as the country went through a massive second surge of the pandemic infection.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had directed the medical wing of the paramilitary forces led by the ITBP to take charge of the Sardar Patel COVID care.

As per the health bulletin issued on Monday, Delhi witnessed 17 more deaths due to Covid with 19,166 new cases and the positivity rate soared to 25 per cent.