Coronavirus: India uses cardboard beds as hospitals run out of space

The beds are waterproof, easily assembled, and can hold a load of up to 300kg, designer Vikram Dhawan says

One study published in March in a US journal showed the coronavirus can remain for up to three days on plastic but only for 24 hours on cardboard

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India is deploying thousands of the disposable cardboard beds. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:26pm, 27 Jun 2020Updated: 3:40pm, 29 Jun 2020

India is deploying thousands of beds made of cardboard to makeshift medical centres, as it struggles to deal with the surging number of coronavirus cases, which crossed 500,000 on Saturday.

The low-cost beds are chemically coated to make them waterproof and can hold a 300kg load, said Vikram Dhawan, who along with his brother came up with the design while they were stuck at home during the country’s months-long lockdown.

“One person can pick it up very comfortably,” Dhawan said at his factory in the northern city of Bhiwadi which already makes cardboard products. “It’s compact, lightweight and can be manufactured and assembled in minutes.”

The New Delhi government is installing 10,000 of the beds in a spiritual centre on the outskirts of the city that is being converted into a dedicated coronavirus facility.

Mumbai, which like the capital has seen its hospitals overwhelmed by Covid-19 patients, is also using them.

Disposable cardboard beds seen at the campus of Radha Soami Satsang Beas in New Delhi on June 26, 2020. Photo: Reuters

“The most important thing is that the virus only stays on the surface of cardboard for 24 hours,” Dhawan said. “On any other surface, metal, wood or plastic, it stays for three to four days.”

A study published in March in the US journal NEJM showed the coronavirus can remain for up to three days on plastic but only for 24 hours on cardboard.