Covid-19 impact: Private hospitals gasp for breath as occupancy slumps

The first of a two-part series looks at how private health care facilities are facing the pandemic

When a member of the engineering staff in a Delhi hospital tested positive for novel coronavirus recently, the hospital management was taken by surprise because it was a non-Covid--19 facility and, additionally, the infected person had no contact with patients.

While the infection was traced to his wife — a nurse in a government hospital — the hospital had to cordon off the basement where the engineer worked. Fortunately, the hospital did not have to shut down its main operations since the protocols were in place and its floors were segregated.

Not all have been so lucky. A clutch of