Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said Delhi will import 18 cryogenic tankers from Thailand.
New Delhi:
Delhi recorded 381 deaths over the last 24 hours — the highest since Covid reached the city last year. The number of fresh infections was 24,149, which took the number of active cases to 98,000. The positivity rate remained at 32.72 per cent.
The numbers in Delhi have been inching down since the lockdown started in the city last week. Covid had exploded in the city this month, reaching a 28,000-plus figure at one point.
The subsequent shortage of beds, drugs and most importantly oxygen, had stretched the hospitals to a breaking point.
Today, the Centre assured the Supreme Court that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are monitoring oxygen supply across the country on a war footing.
“The Central Government, with active and constant supervision and direct involvement of the Hon’ble Prime Minister and the Hon’ble Home Minister, is augmenting the oxygen supply on a war footing evolving and implementing innovative measures,” the Centre said in a 201-page affidavit.
The Centre has contended that the country is producing enough oxygen. It is the transportation system that’s proving a challenge, since there are not enough tankers.
Today, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said his government will import 18 cryogenic tankers from Thailand and 21 ready-to-use oxygen plants from France. The Centre has provided five oxygen tankers to Delhi, he added.
The Chief Minister, who had sought the help of top industrialists to resolve the oxygen crisis, said Delhi has received “tremendous” cooperation.
By the end of the next month, the Delhi government will set up 44 oxygen plants at various hospitals, , Mr Kejriwal told reporters. The figure would include the imported ones. The Centre will install eight oxygen plants by April 30, he added.