New Delhi, Dec 24 (IANS): The Delhi High Court was on Thursday informed by the city government that the new strain of Covid is "causing worry all around the world" and it remains to be seen what effect it could have.

Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, representing the Delhi government, told a single judge bench of Justice Navin Chawla that "this mutated strain of the virus is causing a worry all over the world. People within mutated strain have already come to India. There is new strain from South Africa".

At this stage, the situation can only be anticipated, he added.

The submissions came while the bench was hearing a petition filed by Association of Healthcare providers challenging the Delhi government's order reserving 80 per cent ICU beds for Covid-19 patients in 33 private hospitals in the national capital.

Jain also told the court that the reservation of ICU beds has been reduced to 60 per cent.

The government also submitted the minutes of a meeting conducted on December 23 for the formulation of recommendations regarding the de-escalation of Covid-19 dedicated beds.

The minutes stated that it was found that there was a significant decline in the number of Covid-19 cases admitted in the hospitals from 6,023 on December 7 to 2,866 on December 23, registering a fall of 52.4 per cent.

"Therefore, the committee recommends that Covid ICU beds reservation of 80 per cent of the total capacity of the private ICU beds in the private sector be reduced to 60 per cent, making 40 per cent ICU capacity of hospital available for the non-Covid critical care," the minutes read.