In their battle against Covid-19 pandemic, state governments have started taking over private hotels, including multi-star facilities, so that they can be converted into special wards for patients in the worst affected cities across the country.

In Indore and Ujjain , the two worst affected cities which account for 70% of Madhya Pradesh ’s total cases, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government has acquired 28 hotels, resorts and marriage gardens.

Indore Development Authority chief executive officer Vivek Shotriya said that 22 hotels, resorts and marriage gardens have been acquired to set up quarantine centres. “As many as 1,200 patients can be accommodated in these establishments. If needed, we will acquire more buildings,” he said, adding that the target is to make isolation arrangements for at least 2,000 people. In state capital Bhopal, no private hotels have been acquired yet, but district collector Tarun Pithode did not rule out the possibility in the coming days.

In Rajasthan’s Bhilwara town, the worst affected spot in the state, the government has taken over at least 20 hotels and converted them into quarantine centres. "We have taken over 1,500 rooms and currently 600 people are quarantined in these hotels," Bhilwara district collector Rajendra Bhatt told TOI.

In Jaipur, the district administration is arranging for 10,000 emergency isolation beds which will be put up in hotels, private hospitals, university hostels, community halls, dharamshalas and clubs. "We have identified these hotels. We will use them as and when required," said Ashok Kumar, additional DM of Jaipur.

The acquisition of hotels comes days after the governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh invoked the British era Epidemic Diseases Act 1897 to acquire private hospitals in these states to combat coronavirus pandemic.

In Kerala, the government has identified private hotels and buildings in several districts. Around 74 buildings, comprising mostly hotels and hostels, have been identified in Ernakulam for setting up isolation wards. In Kasargod, the worst affected district, three hotels have been identified.

In Wayanad, which does not have a major government hospital, 134 hotels with 1,900 rooms have been identified and some of them have already been converted into ‘Covid Care Centres’. As many as 152 people have been placed under observation in nine such resorts.

Similarly, in Thiruvanthapuram, several hotels have been identified, including the iconic Mascot Hotel.

The Yogi Adityanath government in UP has taken over four multi-star hotels in capital Lucknow and one in Agra.

The Goa government has taken over at least one private resort, apart from government-run Goa Tourism Development Corporation residencies for converting them into quarantine facilities.

In Bengaluru, the government has identified 16 hotels, including one frequented by politicians, for housing patients with Covid-19 symptoms. “All primary contacts of Covid-19 positive cases who are asymptomatic, whose immunity level is low and those who are within the quarantine period will be moved to the hotels and kept in individual rooms before being moved to a quarantine facility,” Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) commissioner Anil Kumar said.

