Sports stadiums are being converted to quarantine centres, blood donation camps and more to handle the surge of Covid-19 patients

The Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Telangana’s Cyberabad has been turned into a quarantine facility. It has separate entrances and exits that as effective isolation.

The government is making use of the rooms that were available at the sports complex of the stadium. The municipal officials and health authorities inspected the premises and handed over the sanitation work to Circle 11 Serilingampally authorities.

The IGMC stadium has the capacity to seat 25,000 people and is known for hosting the India-West Indies One Day International Cricket Match in 2002. The authorities recently spent ₹60 lakh to construct a brand-new tennis hard-court.

Now, the stadium is being used to sell vegetables during the lockdown so that social distancing can be enforced. It’s also been fitted with a tunnel that can spray 500-litres disinfectant before needing a refill.

Other tunnels are expected to be set up at the BR Stadium and the Makineni Basavapunnaiah Stadium in the district, which are also being used to accommodate the sale of vegetables.

With blood banks dried up during the Coronavirus crisis, the Kolkata police organised a month-long blood donation camp at the Netaji Indoor Stadium to enforce social distancing.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also visited the stadium on April 1 to make sure that it meets requirements.

So far, three people have died from Coronavirus in the state.

The Dumurjala Stadium is a new construction in Howrah. According to Mamata Banerjee, since it’s not being used for sporting events due to the lockdown, it will be converted into a 150-bed quarantine centre to combat an to increase of Coronavirus patients.

Once the pandemic is over, she promises that the stadium will be reverted to its original condition — as good as new.

The Sports Authority of India was approached by the Delhi government to turn the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium into a quarantine centre after the number of cases in the national capital surged after many cases from Nizamuddin incident emerged.

The final decision has been deferred for now, according to PTI. However, the stadium is on stand-by should the need arise for its use.

The Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati is also being turned into an isolation centre. The sporting complex is being retrofitted into a makeshift hospital that will be able to take in at least 1,000 patients at a time.