India is under the siege of the deadly second wave of COVID-19. More than two lakh people are testing positive for coronavirus over the last four days amid a growing positivity rate and a spiking fatality rate across the country.
As many as 2,61,500 more people tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative cases to 1,47,88,109.
A new variant, which has a so-called double mutation, is thought to be fueling India¡¯s deadlier new wave of infections that has made it the world¡¯s second worst-hit country.
Sixteen states and UTs -- Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Kerala, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal -- are displaying an upward trajectory in daily new cases, the Union health ministry said.
The number of new fatalities has reached a record high too with 1,501 more people succumbing to the disease in the last 24 hours.?
Amid the rise in COVID figures, states are dealing with an acute shortage of beds and oxygen supply.
Demands for increased supply of oxygen cylinders, vaccine doses and Remdesivir were raised by 11 states and UTs, including Delhi on Saturday.
Horror unfolded in Madhya Pradesh where 12 coronavirus patients died at the Shahdol Medical College in Madhya Pradesh allegedly due to the lack of liquid medical oxygen on Sunday night.
Dean of the Shahdol Medical College, Dr Milind Shiralkar told the media earlier that the deaths of Covid-19 patients were the result of lack of medical oxygen.
Family members of the deceased patients claimed that the deaths were caused by lack of stable medical oxygen supply.
Several states have reported a short supply of oxygen for the growing pool of COVID patients.
India plans to import 50,000 metric tonnes of medical oxygen to cater to the rising demand.?
The Union Health Ministry has been directed to finalise the tender for the same and also explore possible sources for import identified by the missions of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), it said.?
"Also, based on the mapping exercise undertaken, 4,880 MT, 5,619 MT and 6,593 MT have been indicated to these 12 states -- Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan -- for meeting their projected demand as on 20th April, 25th April and 30th April, respectively," a statement issued by the health ministry said.?
Medical oxygen is a critical component in the treatment of COVID-affected patients and there has been increasing demand for medical oxygen, especially from these 12 states which have a high burden of active coronavirus cases.
While the demand in Maharashtra is expected to be beyond available production capacity of the state, states like Madhya Pradesh do not have any production capacity to meet their demand for medical oxygen, the health ministry said.
Besides, there is a trend of increasing demand in other oxygen producing states such as Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, it highlighted.
States have been directed to set up control rooms to ensure smooth supply of oxygen to the districts according to need and review requirement of cylinders, tankers etc.