COVID-19: Situation Grim, PM Reviews Medical Oxygen Availability, Centre to Import 50,000 Tonnes of Medical Oxygen Urgently

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Apr 16: As India created yet another new record of reporting 2.17 lakhs of new Corona cases on Friday, one fourth of the world’s total caseload in a day, the country has started feeling an acute shortage of medical oxygen with the number of critical cases kept rising.

India continues to lead the world in terms of average daily cases detected. The nation now accounts for one in every four cases reported globally every day. As of April 14, India recorded over two times the average daily cases detected in the United States.

Official sources said the demand for medical oxygen has reached its peak amid the raging second wave of Covid-19 pandemic. Patients with mild symptoms of Covid-19 do not need medical oxygen but as the country is seeing an uptick in the number of critical patients, the demand is at its all-time high.

The prime minister Narendra Modi convened a high-level meeting to review the medical oxygen availability situation in the country and asked each of the oxygen producing plants to augment daily output depending on their respective capacities. In addition, the government also decided to import 50,000 tonnes of medical oxygen to meet the emergency situation.

Modi took a detailed review of current situation of oxygen supply and projected use in coming 15 days across 12 high-burden states, officials said.

He was briefed about production capacity of medical oxygen to meet rising demand. He asked officials during review to ensure seamless, free movement of tankers carrying oxygen throughout country.

The meeting decided that there would be no restriction on the movement of medical oxygen cylinders during weekend curfews and the cylinder filling plants will be allowed to work round the clock on all seven days a week.

Official sources admitted that the second wave was proving to be more dangerous than the first wave of the pandemic. “The country is recording over two lakh fresh infections in the past two days. The situation is worsening at a rapid growth in a number of states,” the sources said.

Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan have been identified as high-burden states with a high demand for medical oxygen. Gujarat, Karnataka and Rajasthan are some of the oxygen-producing states, which are meeting the requirement of the high-demand states.

According to the government data, the country has a daily production capacity of 7,127 tonnes of medical oxygen. Apart from this, the surplus oxygen available with steel plants is also being diverted for medical purpose. For example, Maharashtra used oxygen from JSW, Chhattisgrah from SAIL etc.

The sources pointed out that on April 12, the medical oxygen consumption was 3,843 metric ton, which is 54 per cent of the daily production capacity. The demand will go up in the coming days and the preparations are being done keeping the projected demand in mind.

The 162 Pressure Swing Absorption plants, which were earlier sanctioned under PM-Cares Fund, are being closely reviewed for early completion. About 100 hospitals in remote locations will be identified for sanction for installation of such PSA plants.

The meeting asked the ministry of external affairs to explore import options through its missions abroad for importing 50,00 tonnes of medical oxygen immediately. The states have been asked to ensure there is no wastage.

India added a record 2,17,353 new coronavirus infections in a day taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 1,42,91,917, while active cases surpassed the 15-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday. This is the second consecutive day that the country has reported over two lakh cases.

The death toll increased to 1,74,308 with 1,185 new fatalities, the highest since September 19, 2020, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Registering a steady increase for the 37th day in a row, the active cases have increased to 15,69,743, comprising 10.98 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate dropped to 87.80 per cent.

The active caseload was at its lowest at 1,35,926 on February 12 and it was at its highest at 10,17,754 on September 18, 2020.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,25,47,866, while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.22 per cent, the data stated.

Meanwhile, after receiving permission to make Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, Mumbai-based Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical on Friday said it would take at least a year for the company to start actual production.

A top official said the state-run company is targeting to produce 22.8 crore vials of the vaccine per year.

Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Dr Sandeep Rathod, managing director, Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation Ltd, said, “Our target is to produce around 22.8 crore vaccine vials but it will take one year for us to start production.” Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech and the ICMR have developed Covaxin, one of the two vaccines being used in the ongoing nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.

In Uttar Pradesh, the state government amid a surge in COVID-19 cases has announced a lockdown across the state on Sunday.

To enforce wearing of masks, the state government has doubled the fine to Rs 1000 for those caught without masks for the first time and 10 times the fine amount for those caught again.

The Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also ordered establishing a 1,000-bed makeshift COVID hospital in Lucknow to tackle the rising number of coronavirus cases.

The state had on Thursday reported 104 deaths and 22,439 fresh cases, pushing the fatality count to 9,480 and the total infection number to 7,66,360.

The Chief Minister, himself a Covid positive patient, made the direction for setting up the hospital during a review meeting with divisional commissioners, district magistrates, chief medical officers and his Team-11 (a core team of 11 officers).

The Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan reviewed the situations in UP and Chhattisgarh in separate meetings, officials said.

This comes a day after the two top officials of the central government reviewed the coronavirus situation in Madhya Pradesh.

Chhattisgarh saw its highest single-day spike of 15,256 coronavirus cases on Thursday, raising its tally to 5,01,500. With 135 deaths due to the viral infection recorded during the day, the statewide toll mounted to 5,442.

Chhattisgarh has been witnessing over 10,000 daily cases since the past nine days.