Major pvt hospitals in Delhi to keep 40% beds for Covid patients: AAP govt

The Delhi government on Tuesday directed all private hospitals and nursing homes with 50 beds or more to reserve at least 40 per cent of their total bed capacity for Covid patients, in the wake of an uptick in cases in the last few days due to the Omicron variant.

The positivity rate has exponentially increased from 2.44 per cent on December 31, 2021, to more than eight per cent on Tuesday, the government said in an order.

It also said that the transmissibility of the variant is very high and the number of Omicron positive cases in the community are rising exponentially.

"Therefore, the keepers of all private hospitals/nursing homes having total bed capacity of 50 beds or more are directed to reserve at least 40 per cent of their total bed capacity (i.e. 40 per cent of ward bed capacity and 40 per cent of lCU bed capacity) for Covid patients," read the order issued by the Nursing Home Cell of the Delhi Directorate General of Health Services.