CARDBOARD BEDS TO THE RESCUE IN INDIA’S WAR ON COVID-19

▶ The durable and disposable beds can be assembled in four minutes

An Indian company is doing its part in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic by building cardboard beds for hospitals.

More than 15,000 of the highly durable but low-cost beds were sent to makeshift hospitals to help deal with the increasing number of infected people in India.

Dubai has also ordered a trial of 500 beds that can be assembled in four minutes and cost between $10 (Dh37) and $15.

The product was invented by Vikram Dhawan and his brother Kapil, who came up with the design while they were stuck at home during India’s long lockdown.

“We were sitting at home when we decided to do something to help India at this critical time,” Mr Dhawan, 41, told The National.

“So we designed a bed in the house. We did our own research and development. We had a machine in our factory that helped us design a fantastic bed.”

Their company, Dhawan Box Sheet Containers, approached the Indian government in April.

It quickly ordered 10,000 beds, which have been installed in a temporary hospital in New Delhi.

The beds can support a person weighing up to 300 kilograms and are chemically coated to resist moisture.

The coronavirus can survive on a cardboard surface for only 24 hours, whereas it can remain on metal, wood or plastic for up to four days.

The bed system comes in a flat-pack box and 500 of them can be placed into a single shipping container.

“We can use this bed in this crisis and the government has welcomed our idea,” Mr Dhawan said.

“The bed is durable and very economical compared to a metal bed.

“It is compact, lightweight and can be manufactured and assembled in minutes.”

The basic materials come from a paper mill near the cardboard factory in the northern city of Bhiwadi, near New Delhi.

They are converted into cardboard and corrugated sheets that are then made into beds.

The beds are fully recyclable and last approximately six months.

The company is able to make 1,500 beds a day and the product is expected to be in high demand, with Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai all experiencing a record increase in Covid-19 cases.

India has had a severe increase in new cases and passed Russia to become the country with the third most infections.

The cardboard company has also been contacted by Iran, which placed an initial order of 1,000 beds.

Iran is fighting a significant outbreak of the disease, with almost 250,000 cases reported so far.

There have also been inquiries about the beds from the hotel industry in India.