NIT-Hamirpur hostels to turn into isolation wards to house COVID-19 patients

The Himachal Pradesh government has started taking over various buildings in the state for creating isolation wards to quarantine suspected novel coronavirus (COVID-19) patients, officials said.

In Hamirpur, the district administration on Wednesday took over all the 10 hostels comprising 2,000 rooms of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) for creating an isolation centre to quarantine suspected COVID-19 patients.

Nearly 2,000 suspected patients may be kept in NIT-Hamirpur.

A number of residents have returned to their homes in Hamirpur from abroad recently. Around 220 such people who have been identified along with those with whom they came in contact may be kept in the makeshift isolation wards, the officials said.

The authorities have also decided to take over control of all rest houses and government buildings for converting them into isolation wards to meet any eventuality.