The Brazilian state of Amazonas is running out of oxygen during a renewed surge in COVID-19 deaths, its government said on Thursday, with media reporting that people on respirators were dying of suffocation in hospitals.
The state has made a dramatic appeal to the United States to send a military transport plane to the capital city Manaus with oxygen cylinders.
Brazilian Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said the hospital system in the city is collapsing from a second wave of COVID-19 and it is running out of oxygen. He said the city’s hospitals were short of medical staff as deaths surge again.
Workers carry an empty oxygen tank at a hospital in Manaus, Brazil - AAP
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Hospitals in Brazil s northern state of Amazonas have run short of oxygen and made an urgent call for help from the United States, as Britain slapped a ban on new arrivals from Brazil over fears of a new homegrown coronavirus variant.
Researchers say the new variant could be contributing to the sharp rise in cases in Amazonas state, although they are conducting more studies to ascertain if it is more contagious than earlier versions of the coronavirus.
Amazonas, where nearly 6000 people have died from COVID-19, is suffering a devastating second wave that is pushing emergency services to a breaking point.