Northern Railway has made available 503 isolation coaches equivalent to 8,048 beds as COVID Care Centres at nine stations in Delhi. These stations include Anand Vihar Terminal, Shakurbasti, Sarai Rohilla, Safdarjung, Shahdara, Adarsh Nagar, Delhi Cantt, Badli and Tughlakabad.

General Manager of Northern and North Central Railways Rajiv Chaudhry said, all nine stations have good infrastructure to maintain these coaches and proper approach roads for the movement of ambulances. He said, a total of 171 patients had been admitted to Shakurbasti COVID Care Centre, out of which 72 have been discharged, while 99 are still under treatment there.

Mr Chaudhry said, hygienic and good quality food is being served to patients at isolation coaches. He said, Northern Railway is committed to make all efforts to help fight COVID-19 on war footing . Recently Indian Railways developed,  a Post Covid Coach to fight Covid 19. This Post Covid Coach is designed with handsfree amenities, copper-coated handrails and latches, plasma air purification and titanium di-oxide coating for Covid-free passenger journey.

The Railways Ministry said, the Coach has been designed by Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala to prevent the spread of Covid 19. The Ministry said, Railways has taken numerous steps and measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus infection.

This Post Covid Coach includes handsfree amenities like foot operated water tap and soap dispenser, foot operated lavatory door, foot operated flush valve, outside washbasin with foot operated water tap and soap dispenser. The Ministry said, this Coach has the provision of plasma air equipment in AC duct. This equipment will sterilize the air and surfaces inside the AC coach using ionised air to make the coach Covid-19 and particulate matter resistant.

Meanwhile the Government today said that India’s Case Fatality Rate of COVID-19 falls below 2.5 per cent for the first time. Union Health Ministry said, India has one of the lowest fatality rates in the world.

It said, due to the focused efforts of Centre and State and Union Territories governments on efficient clinical management of hospitalized cases have ensured that the Case Fatality Rate falls to 2.49 per cent.

The Ministry said, with effective Containment Strategy, aggressive testing and standardized clinical management protocols based on holistic Standard of Care approach, the Case Fatality Rate has significantly dipped.

Under the guidance of the Centre, the State and UT governments have ramped up the testing and hospital infrastructure by combining public and private sector efforts.

Many States have conducted the population surveys to map and identify the vulnerable population like the elderly, pregnant women and those with co-morbidities.

Health Ministry said, at the ground level, front line health workers like ASHAs and ANMs have done a commendable job of managing the migrant population and to enhance awareness at the community level.

As a result, there are 29 States and UTs with Case Fatality Rate lower than the India average. Five States and UTs have a Zero Case Fatality Rate. While 14 States and UTs have a Case Fatality Rate of less than one per cent.