Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 25
Lockdown in Delhi was extended by another week (till May 3) on Sunday after India set a fresh Covid-19 world record with 3,49,691 daily cases. The hospitals in the Capital faced oxygen shortage for the sixth straight day.
No new deaths were reported due to lack of oxygen today in some respite for health facility managements even as PM Narendra Modi acknowledged in his radio programme that the second wave had shaken the country.
Jaipur Golden Hospital, Delhi, which lost 20 patients to oxygen shortage yesterday, halted fresh admissions of Covid patients today while Ganga Ram Hospital said its oxygen supply of Saturday arrived on Sunday morning and the situation remained grim.
First Oxygen Express to reach Delhi tonight
First Oxygen Express carrying 70 tonnes of gas from Raipur will reach Delhi on Monday night.
Liquid oxygen only for med use, no exception
"If supplies do not arrive by midnight, we will have to return to manual ventilation of 100 patients. The INOX tanker, which was to come yesterday by 5 pm, arrived at 5 am today with 5 tonne supply which has already exhausted. We need more oxygen after midnight," Ganga Ram PRO Ajoy Sehgal said.
Shri Ram Singh Hospital and Heart Institute also tweeted today, pleading for oxygen refill at its 100-bed hospital. "We don't have enough stock to sustain our patients. We have been trying since 4.30 am. Our vehicles went to Bawana, Faridabad, Noida, Greater Noida, but did not get oxygen anywhere," the management said.
Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital and Pentamed facility in Model Town made SOS calls for oxygen.
As the crisis unfolded, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal wrote to corporates — Tatas, Birlas, Ambanis, Hindujas and Mahendras, and other business families — urging assistance. "If you have oxygen and a tanker, please help the Delhi Government," Kejriwal wrote a day after he sought help for oxygen from state counterparts.
The CM again said the state was not receiving the committed oxygen supply of 480 tonne a day and was getting just 330 MT daily. Delhi's Covid positivity rate remains above 30 per cent. Tamil Nadu also reported oxygen shortages with CM E Palaniswamy writing to the PM alleging diversion of state's oxygen quota to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
As of Sunday, oxygen demand from 22 high-surge states was 8,331 MT a day and supply was 8,280 MT a day. Only Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Gujarat had received lesser central allocations as compared to demand, indicating that supply and transport of oxygen was a challenge for Delhi and not the allocation.
Centre issues fresh advisory to states
- Lockdown measures in districts with over 10% positivity rate or above 60% ICU bed occupancy
- Night curfew; prohibition of social, political, sports, entertainment, religious, festival-related gatherings
- Marriages and funerals with not more than 50 and 20 persons, respectively; malls, eateries, shrines must be closed
- Healthcare, police, fire, banks, electricity, water and sanitation services to continue
- Operate public transport (railways, metros, buses, cabs) at a maximum capacity of 50%
- No curbs on inter-state and intra-state movement, including transportation of essentials
- All offices, govt and private, to function with 50% staff
- Industrial/scientific units may function, if workforce is following physical distancing norms
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/3nm2clM
No comments:
Post a Comment