How grave is India’s oxygen emergency? Worse than the government admits
India's oxygen reserves are fast depleting. Based on current demand, it may run out of stocks in a few weeks even if all oxygen is diverted to medical use.
2 hours ago
A man waits to refill a medical oxygen cylinder for a Covid-19 patient at an oxygen station in Allahabad on April 20.
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Sanjay Kanojia/ AFP
The past 48 hours have seen an escalation of India’s oxygen emergency.
On Thursday, major hospitals in the national capital nearly ran out of oxygen for the third consecutive day. Oxygen cylinders were looted in a Madhya Pradesh town. Uttar Pradesh put restrictions on individual purchase of oxygen cylinders at a time when breathless Covid-19 patients have been unable to find hospital beds. An oxygen leakage in Maharashtra left 22 patients dead. States traded charges over oxygen blockades.