It’s a complete mess! States grapple with enormous infection surge, fight over medical oxygen

Photo for representational purpose. Picture Courtesy/iStock

Amid a massive shortage of medical oxygen India on Thursday morning reported yet another record daily spike of 3,14,835 cases and 2,104 deaths. The steady surge for the past 43 days has led to chaos in several states, with many accusing each other of blocking the supply of oxygen.

Dr A C shukla, medical superintendent of Delhi's Mata Chanan Devi hospital, alleged that the oxygen tankers coming from Inox Air Products Ltd had been stopped at the border of Rajasthan by either the state government or the police.

Hearing a plea on Thursday on the supply disruption, an anguished bench of Delhi High Court bench said, "We all know that this country is being run by god," and directed the Centre to take measures to remove obstructions in the transportation of oxygen. The Centre then asked states to ensure uninterrupted production and supply of oxygen and its transport along inter-state borders.

Delhi is also seeing a shortage of beds. According to an NDTV report, at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital, Delhi's biggest COVID facility, patients made desperate pleas for a bed for their loved ones. One Aslam Khan, who had come to admit his wife Ruby, 30, pleaded to the hospital staff, "My wife will die. Please admit her." "They keep repeating ‘there is no bed'. Should I get her treated on the floor?" NDTV quoted him as saying. Then there is the shortage of vaccines. In Kerala, the vaccination response was slow initially but the centres are now seeing longer queues since the surge in cases, according to an Indian Express report. The state has stopped spot registration as it doesn't have enough doses.

Amid the surge came reports of violations. In Assam, over 300 domestic passengers fled the Silchar airport upon arrival on Wednesday to evade the test, officials said on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court termed the COVID-19 situation almost a "national emergency", as it agreed to hear a plea by Vedanta, seeking a nod to open its Sterlite Copper unit at Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, where it would produce thousand tonnes of oxygen and give it free of cost to treat patients. The plea was opposed by the TN government for environmental reasons. "There is almost a national emergency and you (TN) don't put spokes in the solution. We will hear it tomorrow," the SC said.

AgenciesNEW DELHI: Amid a massive shortage of medical oxygen India on Thursday morning reported yet another record daily spike of 3,14,835 cases and 2,104 deaths. The steady surge for the past 43 days has led to chaos in several states, with many accusing each other of blocking the supply of oxygen.
Dr A C shukla, medical superintendent of Delhi's Mata Chanan Devi hospital, alleged that the oxygen tankers coming from Inox Air Products Ltd had been stopped at the border of Rajasthan by either the state government or the police.

Hearing a plea on Thursday on the supply disruption, an anguished bench of Delhi High Court bench said, "We all know that this country is being run by god," and directed the Centre to take measures to remove obstructions in the transportation of oxygen. The Centre then asked states to ensure uninterrupted production and supply of oxygen and its transport along inter-state borders.

Delhi is also seeing a shortage of beds. According to an NDTV report, at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital, Delhi's biggest COVID facility, patients made desperate pleas for a bed for their loved ones. One Aslam Khan, who had come to admit his wife Ruby, 30, pleaded to the hospital staff, "My wife will die. Please admit her." "They keep repeating ‘there is no bed'. Should I get her treated on the floor?" NDTV quoted him as saying. Then there is the shortage of vaccines. In Kerala, the vaccination response was slow initially but the centres are now seeing longer queues since the surge in cases, according to an Indian Express report. The state has stopped spot registration as it doesn't have enough doses.

Amid the surge came reports of violations. In Assam, over 300 domestic passengers fled the Silchar airport upon arrival on Wednesday to evade the test, officials said on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court termed the COVID-19 situation almost a "national emergency", as it agreed to hear a plea by Vedanta, seeking a nod to open its Sterlite Copper unit at Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, where it would produce thousand tonnes of oxygen and give it free of cost to treat patients. The plea was opposed by the TN government for environmental reasons. "There is almost a national emergency and you (TN) don't put spokes in the solution. We will hear it tomorrow," the SC said.

Still need a reason to get jabbed?

Numbers don't lie. ICMR data proves a measly 0.03-0.04 per cent vax receivers of two doses of Covishield or Covaxin vaccines contracted Coronavirus infection

Covishield
No. of 1st dose receivers 10,03,02,745
No. of infections 17,145 (0.02 per cent)
No. of 2nd dose receivers 1,57,32,754
No. of infections 5,014 (0.03 per cent)

Covaxin
No. of 1st dose receivers 93,56,436
No. of infections 4,208 (0.04 per cent)
No. of 2nd dose receivers 17,37,178
No. of infections 695 (0.04 per cent)

Total
No. of 1st dose receivers 10,96,59,181
No. of infections 21,353
No. of 2nd dose receivers 1,74,69,932
No. of infections 5,709

Registration for 18+ starts on April 28

Registration for vaccination against COVID-19 for all those aged above 18 will begin on the CoWIN platform and Aarogya Setu app from April 28, officials said on Thursday. The inoculation process and documents needed to get the shot are the same as before.

BJP MLA joins Oppn in opposing vax pricing

Upset over anti-Coronavirus vaccine pricing by the Serum Institute of India, a UP BJP MLA has compared its CEO Adar Poonawalla with a "dacoit". Gorakhpur MLA Radha Mohan Das Agrawal tweeted, "@adarpoonawalla you are worse than a dacoit. @PMOIndia @AmitShah @blsanthosh @drharshvardhan should acquire your factory under epidemic act." Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the new vaccine policy, which she said, implies that the Centre has abdicated its responsibility of providing free vaccine to all Indians between 18 and 45 years of age. Gandhi urged him to intervene immediately to reverse it.

T'gana fumes over ‘lesser' remdesivir

Slamming the Centre for ‘lesser' allocation of remdesivir to Telangana, Health Minister Etela Rajender on Thursday said the state has to be given preference as it is home to many manufacturers of the anti-viral drug. Rajender told reporters that the central government has allotted only over 21,000 vials from April 21-30 as against the state's expectation of four lakh.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever