Mumbai turns iconic spots into quarantine facilities

Mumbai, India's financial hub and the epicenter of the nation's coronavirus outbreak, is converting several of its iconic structures into quarantine facilities as it races to prepare for a predicted peaking of infections this month.

The places are Bandra Kurla Complex, National Sports Club of India, Mahalaxmi Racecourse, Mahim Nature Park, NESCO Grounds, Nehru Science Centre and Nehru Planetarium

From a new hospital being built just a short stroll away from the U.S. Consulate building and the India offices of Citigroup Inc. to quarantine centers being set up in a nature park and planetarium, the metropolis is readying 100,000 beds, or about five times the current number of positive diagnoses.

The goal is to be able to treat and isolate at least 75,000 cases, a projection based on last month's data when the cases were doubling almost every week, said Ashwini Bhide, additional commissioner at Mumbai's municipal corporation.