Amid oxygen crisis, Delhi registers 28,395 fresh Covid cases, 277 deaths in last 24 hrs

The national capital, which is perhaps the worst-hit city by the rapid second wave of infections, logged 277 deaths in this period.

Its active caseload too jumped to nearly 85,600 cases.

The positivity rate of cases was a whopping 32.82 per cent. 86,526 Covid tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, according to the state government.

This massive caseload comes at a time when Delhi is facing an acute shortage of medical oxygen and beds to treat Covid infected patients.

Several hospitals in Delhi would run out of oxygen stock in hours if not replenished. 

Delhi Health Minister Satendra Jain has flagged the oxygen shortage in several hospitals and asked Union Minister Piyush Goyal to help combat the crisis.

"Acute shortage of oxygen at GTB Hospital. Oxygen may not last beyond 4 hrs. More than 500 corona patients on oxygen. Pl help @PiyushGoyal to restore oxygen supply to avert major crisis," read the tweet by Jain.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a tweet urged the Centre to provide immediate supply of oxygen and wrote: "Serious oxygen crisis persists in Delhi. I again urge the centre to urgently provide oxygen to Delhi. Some hospitals are left with just a few hours of oxygen."

Delhi's deputy CM Manish Sisodia said oxygen in some hospitals will run out in 8-12 hours.

"We have been demanding for one week to increase the oxygen supply quota to Delhi, which the central government has to do. If oxygen does not reach the hospitals in sufficient quantity by tomorrow morning, there will be an outcry," he tweeted.

In the evening, during his address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured citizens that oxygen production has been increased to treat the infected patients.

PM Modi noted that some states are facing oxygen shortage during a time when the country is reporting over 2 lakh cases daily.In his address, he said: "Oxygen demand is high and we are attending to it with full priority. We are trying to make it available to all. We are trying to increase production."

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday evening directed the implementation of an order to suspend oxygen supply to industries immediately, said media reports.

The Centre on Sunday had asked all states to stop supply of oxygen for industrial purposes except those which fall in the exempted category from April 22.