The Sardar Patel Care Center COVID, the largest facility of its kind in India, began operating in part on Sunday, with 2,000 of its 10,000 beds available, according to the Delhi government.
Indian Interior Minister Amit Shah and Delhi Prime Minister Arvind Kejriwal visited the spotlight on Saturday before its launch.
In a message posted on Twitter that day, Kejriwal described the center as “one of the largest hospitals in the world.”
Meanwhile, the Home Secretary tweeted that the 10,000-bed facility “would provide great relief to the people of Delhi.”
The facility will be administered and operated by the Indo-Tiberan Border Police (ITBP), Shah confirmed.
“I applaud our brave ITBP staff, who would be operating this COVID Care facility during these difficult times. Their commitment to serving the nation and people of Delhi is unmatched,” he added in a tweet.
The opening of the hospital coincided with the release of data from the Indian health ministry on Sunday, which showed the largest increase in the daily number of new cases of Covid-19.
The country reported 19,906 new infections and 410 new deaths from the virus, with a total of 528,859 positive cases and 16,095 deaths.
Delhi became the country’s worst hit city on Wednesday, beating Mumbai’s coronavirus count. The state of Maharashtra, in western India alone, with 159,133 cases, has had more infections than the capital.
CNN’s Vedika Sud contributed to this report.
.
