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Hospital waste management for COVID-19: status and areas of improvement for the urgent attention of Hon’ble Supreme Court in compliance with directions of 21.7.2020

The daily Covid-19 biomedical waste generation in Delhi increased by 15 times in June as compared to the previous month, and the city is presently producing more refuse than its common biomedical waste treatment facilities (CBWTF) can treat, data shared with the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) shows. The EPCA submitted a report to the Supreme Court Monday which states that a rise in Covid cases caused a “huge increase” in biomedical waste in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and UP. Delhi has the highest daily share of biomedical waste generation out of the four states — quantity went up from 25 tonnes per day in May to 372 tonnes per day in June, which then fell to 349 tonnes per day in July, as per the data shared with EPCA.