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HEALTH-VIRUS-INDIA-DELHI
India’s capital could soon see half a million virus cases, say officials
NEW DELHI, June 9, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Delhi authorities warned
Tuesday that they expect cases in the Indian capital to shoot up
almost 20 times to more than half a million in the coming weeks.
India is easing its national lockdown to ease the devastating
economic blow dealt by the virus, but the disease is still raging
across the world’s second-most populous nation with around 270,000
reported infections — the fifth-highest caseload in the world.
It has reported almost 10,000 new infections in the past 24 hours
with crowded megacities like Mumbai and Delhi the worst hit.
Manish Sisodia, Delhi’s deputy chief minister, said after a crisis
meeting that authorities expected infections to soar to 550,000 by the
end of July, up from almost 30,000 at present.
“There will be 44,000 cases by June 15, 100,000 by June 30, 225,000
by July 15, and we’ll need to prepare necessary infrastructure
accordingly,” Sisodia told reporters.
He said the city of around 20 million people, where hospitals are
already stretched and anecdotal evidence suggests crematoriums are
struggling, needed 80,000 hospital beds.
Delhi’s health minister last week said that it had around 9,000
beds available for coronavirus patients.
BSS/AFP/MRU/1750hrs