COVID-19: Uttarakhand CM assures sufficient medical oxygen, says 'helping other states'

At a time when numerous Chief Ministers have been complaining of a shortage of medical oxygen in their states, Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Tirath Singh Rawat on Wednesday came forward to claim that there is sufficient availability of medical oxygen and that the state is helping those experiencing shortage by supplying the surplus oxygen. He also added that there is no death of hospital beds in the State. 

He said, "We have a sufficient amount of oxygen and even supplied a little of oxygen and have even supplied a little to the other States," and went on to talk about hospital beds. "We have an adequate number of hospital bed too. We have set up 1,000 beds in Sports College, Dehradun. In Haldwani, we have set up beds in private colleges besides medical college and sports college," he said.

Highlighting that the number of beds is increasing in other places too, he added, "I went to Cantt yesterday, where 150 beds have been set up. Today, 50 more beds will be added to Dehradun Medical College. With 30 oxygen beds, Coronation Hospital is also functional."

He also took the opportunity to address the issue of the shortage of anti-viral drug Remdesivir. Pointing out that the State had sent an aircraft to Hyderabad, which returned on April 27, he said, "We have got 7,500 Remdesivir injections and 2,500 more will come." Moving on to the vaccination, he added, "We have announced free vaccination for all and approved Rs 400 crores for it."

The statement comes at a time when the state is witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases. Between March 31 and April 27, the number of active cases has shot from 1,863 to 43,032, with many holding the Kumbh responsible for the same. The state government in the meantime has given a nod to devotees for the annual Char Dham yatra and will allow them to four pilgrims-Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. 

COVID-tally in India

 Since April 15, India has been witnessing a steep rise in the number of COVID-19 cases. On April 4, the country recorded over 1 lakh cases, which doubled in a span of ten days and has been seeing a rise ever since, with now for the fifth consecutive day, over 3-lakh cases have been reported. 

In these few days, the contribution of the country to the world figure has risen from 9 percent to 35 percent, which is the highest ever figure by any country. Keeping this in mind, many countries have either closed their borders or cancelled flights from India. The countries include Bangladesh, Germany, Iran, United Kingdom, Canada, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.

In the last 24 hours, India's clocked 3,60,960 fresh COVID-19 cases and 3,292 fatalities, taking the cumulative caseload to 1,79,97,267 cases and the death toll to 2,01,187. The active cases in India stand at 29,78,709. 

(Credit-PTI/ANI)