Delhi: India is to convert another 500 railway carriages to create 8,000 more beds for coronavirus patients in Delhi, amid a surge in infections.

Home Minister Amit Shah and Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a package of new emergency measures for the capital, including a rapid increase in testing for Covid-19. Nursing homes will also be requisitioned.

The total number passes 322,000 officially confirmed cases puts India fourth in the world – after the US, Brazil and Russia – in the pandemic.

India’s daily number of confirmed new cases has reached almost 12,000. The death toll in India stands more than 9,200, Delhi is the third worst-hit state in India after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

It reports that Delhi’s bed capacity across private and government hospitals for Covid-19 patients stands at 9,698, of which 4,248 beds are vacant.

Mr Kejriwal’s government plans to use 40 hotels and 77 banquet halls as makeshift hospitals.

India began converting railway carriages into quarantine or isolation wards in April, when large parts of the railway network were suspended owing to the pandemic.