Exponential rise in COVID-19 pandemic in India has broken the medical facilities with overwhelming number of patients requiring hospitalization and oxygen support. News of deaths due to non-availability of oxygen is coming from various parts of the country. Relatives of the patients are running from pillar to post and pleading on social media for oxygen and other medicines.
Crematoriums and burial grounds have reached the capacity, bodies are being cremated outside crematoriums and in makeshift temporary facilities. Due to continuous burning of bodies at some places metal frames of the crematoriums have melted away.
In Delhi a man was forced to keep his dead mother’s body at home for nearly two days while searching for space in city’s crematoriums.
2 minutes read on what I saw last evening.
— Danish Siddiqui (@dansiddiqui) April 23, 2021
Delhi resident Nitish Kumar was forced to keep his dead mother’s body at home for nearly two days while he searched for space in the city’s crematoriums – a sign of the deluge of death in India’s capital. https://t.co/RKVUn9N972
‘We’ve only been here a few hours and have seen half a dozen people die while they wait for treatment.’
— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 23, 2021
India has recorded more than 332,000 #COVID19 cases in a single day.@AlexCrawfordSky reports from Delhi, where people are “begging for oxygen.”https://t.co/2DIoxqdjOz pic.twitter.com/x95QVRYtXG
Meanwhile some state governments have approached country’s supreme court and state high courts for oxygen. Special trains are running to ferry oxygen tankers
#Oxygen Express brings medical oxygen for #COVID19 patients in Nashik
— PIB in Maharashtra 🇮🇳 (@PIBMumbai) April 24, 2021
4 tankers have been unloaded at Nashik today morning
Ro-Ro Express from Vizag steel plant delivered 3 LMO tankers in Nagpur yesterdayhttps://t.co/PXmeSpZQrS@InfoDivNashik @airnews_nagpur pic.twitter.com/0yJF3iKKay
Indian Air Force cargo aircrafts are pressed into service to lift T75 tanks
In another step towards scaling up oxygen supply, high capacity tankers are being airlifted from abroad by Indian Air Force aircraft for smooth movement of O2.
— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) April 24, 2021
One C-17 of IAF with liquid O2 containers loaded at Changi airport, Singapore today.@HMOIndia @IAF_MCC pic.twitter.com/jOuan6cWky
C17 Aircraft with 4 cryogenic containers for storage of liquid O2 from Singapore landed at Panagarh air base at 1630 hrs today.@HMOIndia @PIB_India @DDNewslive @airnewsalerts @ANI pic.twitter.com/k5kfevhTWy
— Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) April 24, 2021
ITC Limited in collaboration with Linde Gas is airlifting 24 T75 tanks from Asian countries.
To serve the national priority & Government’s effort in easing bottleneck of #medicaloxygen supply to hospitals, ITC is airfreighting 24 cryogenic ISO containers from Asian countries in collaboration with Linde India Ltd (1/2)@PMOIndia @nsitharaman @PiyushGoyal @AmitShah pic.twitter.com/C3wkwPY0bx
— ITC Limited (@ITCCorpCom) April 24, 2021
As per Naveen Jindal, Indian industrialist, there is no shortage of oxygen but the availability of tankers, the infrastructure, the distances involved, and logistics need to be looked into.
#NDTVExclusive | “There is a lot of #oxygen, but we have to look into the availability of tankers and other aspects”: Naveen Jindal, Chairman, Jindal Steel and Power pic.twitter.com/b5YD09d3P8
— NDTV (@ndtv) April 23, 2021
4 ISO tanks with 80 MT of liquid oxygen is loaded from Dammam, Saudi Arabia to Mundra Port, India
Embassy of India is proud to partner with Adani group and M/s Linde in shipping much needed 80MT liquid oxygen to India. Our hearfelt thanks to Ministry of Health Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for all their help, support and cooperation.@MEAIndia @drausaf @SaudiMOH @HMOIndia pic.twitter.com/6j8NuGwtCB
— India in Saudi Arabia (@IndianEmbRiyadh) April 24, 2021
Best wishes to all in India 🇮🇳 Frightening Covid numbers. #IPL continues. Inappropriate? Or important distraction each night? Whatever your thoughts, prayers are with you. 🙏
— Adam Gilchrist (@gilly381) April 24, 2021