Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that the government has decided to import 18 oxygen tankers and 21 oxygen plants from France for Covid-19 patients amid shortage.
While addressing a press conference, CM Kejriwal said, "Delhi government has decided to import 18 oxygen tankers from Bangkok, they'll start arriving from tomorrow. We've requested Centre to allow use of Air Force planes for this. Talks are on, I'm very hopeful that talks will be successful. This will resolve the issue of transport."
He added, "We are importing 21 ready-to-use oxygen plants from France. They can be brought to use immediately. These will be installed at different hospitals and this will help us in resolving oxygen crisis in those hospitals."
The Delhi government has been facing a crisis in receiving the oxygen that has been allotted to the national capital by the Centre.
"In the next month, we will have 44 oxygen plants in Delhi, out of which 8 plants will be set up by the Centre by April 30. 36 out of the 44 plants will be installed by the Delhi government," Kejriwal said.
"In the past few days, I wrote to various industrialists and state governments seeking help in this respect. We have received tremendous support from all quarters and are hopeful. We are thankful to everyone who is helping the Delhi government during this time of crisis," CM Kejriwal further said.
Acknowledging that the past three days have been extremely tough, Kejriwal said, "We will all have to come together to fight the pandemic. It is only through coming together that we will be able to win over this wave."
The ongoing Covid-19 surge in the national capital has left hospitals overburdened and people are searching for beds with oxygen support.
On Monday, Delhi witness 20,201 new cases which took the caseload to 1,047,916, according to the health department's bulletin. 380 people died in the last 24 hours, marking the highest-ever single-day spike in deaths since the beginning of the pandemic last year. The death toll in Delhi stood at 14,628, while the total number of recoveries reached 940,930. Currently, Delhi has 92,358 active cases.
