COVID care railway coaches: 118 patients admitted, 72 discharged so far

As many as 118 patients have been admitted in the COVID care coaches of the Indian Railways so far, while 72 have been discharged, the national transporter said on Wednesday.

On the requisition of state governments, the Railways has parked 960 such isolation coaches across five states.

However, only two states have started using this facility offered by the Railways so far -- Delhi which has 503 such coaches at its disposal across nine stations and Uttar Pradesh which has 372 coaches parked in 24 locations.

The remaining coaches are parked in Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

Till date, there have been 40 admissions in Delhi and 78 admissions in Uttar Pradesh since the coaches were stationed there, officials said.

Currently, there are 22 patients at Mau in Uttar Pradesh and 24 patients at Shakurbasti railway station in Delhi.

The death toll due to coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh has risen to 718 while the total COVID-19 cases in the state stands at 24,056.

According to health bulletin released by the Delhi government on Tuesday, the COVID-19 tally in Delhi stands at 87,360 while the the death toll due to the disease is 2,742.

Indian Railways is ready to offer 5,231 isolation coaches to the states and the zonal railways have converted these coaches as quarantine facilities, officials said.

The coaches can be used for very mild cases that can be clinically assigned to the COVID care centres as per guidelines issued by the Union Health ministry.

Train coaches have been modified into patient isolation wards to bolster the country's healthcare infrastructure amid the rapid spread of COVID-19.