At least 586 hospitals with 1 lakh isolation beds earmarked for COVID-19 patients: Health ministry

A total of 586 hospitals in the country have been earmarked as COVID-19 hospitals with capacity of over 1 lakh isolation beds and 11,500 ICU beds reserved for coronavirus patients, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has said.

"The government had taken an pre-emptive action to identify COVID-19 hotspots in the country. In the absence of a lockdown and other containment measures, there would have been over 8.2 lakh coronavirus cases in the country till April 15," Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, MoHFW, said in a press briefing on Saturday.

As many as 1,035 fresh coronavirus cases and 40 deaths due to the disease were reported in the last 24 hours across the country, taking the total number of cases to 7,447 and deaths to 239 nationwide.

Agarwal added, "At least 586 dedicated COVID-19 hospitals have been earmarked at the state and centre level. One lakh isolation beds and 11,500 ICU beds have been reserved for coronavirus patients across country. This figure is being augmented every day, based on the evolving situation.

"The response of Government of India has been preemptive, proactive and to the extent of being over-prepared and through our graded approach, we have aligned our response with the evolving situation. Ministry of AYUSH has prepared a set of guidelines on respiratory health and to boost immunity. Districts have been asked to incorporate this in district-level contingency plan as well."

Agarwal also asserted that there is no shortage in the country of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, cited by many as a viable therapeutic solution to counter the coronavirus infection.

The ICMR said over 1.7 lakh samples have been tested in country so far for COVID-19, of which 16,564 samples were tested on Friday. Five lakh antibody testing kits ordered by ICMR have not been received yet.