As India battles an unrelenting, devastating second wave of coronavirus infections, countries around the world are speeding up deliveries of urgently needed medical supplies.
The US sent the third of six aid shipments to New Delhi on Sunday, including 1,000 oxygen cylinders; the UK donated over 400 oxygen concentrators; and France sent eight oxygen generators, each capable of serving 250 hospitalised patients.
The US sent the third of six aid shipments to New Delhi on Sunday, including 1,000 oxygen cylinders; the UK donated over 400 oxygen concentrators; and France sent eight oxygen generators, each capable of serving 250 hospitalised patients.
As India battles the new epidemic of infections, oxygen has been in short supply, leaving some dying COVID patients gasping for air in hospital beds. Others have died in hospital parking lots or at home due to a lack of space in overburdened health care facilities.
India has a daily output capacity of around 7,700 tonnes of oxygen, some of which is used for industrial purposes, according to the health ministry, with 55,000 tonnes in reserve. A week later, a government official informed the Delhi High Court that medical demand had surpassed the daily production potential of 8,800 tonnes per day.
More than three dozen countries, large and small, have pledged to assist India, which this weekend set a new world record by reporting 401,993 new infections in a single day. Over the last two weeks, daily deaths have nearly doubled, reaching 3,689 on Saturday.
Families of the sick have taken to social media to request portable oxygen tanks, as well as hospital beds and medicines like remdesivir. A string of deadly hospital incidents has added to the country’s suffering, including a fire in the western city of Bharuch on Saturday that killed 16 COVID patients and two health care staff.
Aid from a half-dozen countries arrived at Indian airports over the weekend, including 157 ventilators from the United Arab Emirates, 500 oxygen cylinders from Taiwan, and 1,000 remdesivir vials from Belgium.
President Joe Biden of the United States has been under tremendous pressure to do more to solve India’s crisis. As long as federal authorities find the doses secure, his administration plans to make up to 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca NSE -0.06 percent vaccine available to other countries. Vaccines are in short supply in India, where shortages forced many states to postpone extending access to all on Saturday.
