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As India gasps, Kerala has 510 tons of oxygen reserve
As India gasps, Kerala has 510 tons of oxygen reserve
As many states in the country continue to grapple with oxygen shortage, the Kerala government has said it has a reserve of 510 metric ton of the life-saving gas at production centres post-delivery
Kochi: As many states in the country continue to grapple with oxygen shortage, the Kerala government has said it has a reserve of 510 metric ton of the life-saving gas at production centres post-delivery.
The government is now mulling the possibilities of increasing the reserve stock upto 1000 MT to meet any adverse situations, authorities said.
In the wake of the number of COVID-19 cases crossing the 30,000 mark in the southern state, Health Minister K K Shailaja convened a special high-level meeting on Tuesday to review the availability of oxygen. In view of the grim situation, it has been decided to set up audit committees in the state, district and hospital levels for the effective utilisation of the available oxygen in the state, she said. "At present, 220 metric tonnes (MT) of medical oxygen is available in government hospitals. Around 100 MT of oxygen is required for COVID and non-Covid treatments. After distribution, we have around 510 MT oxygen as reserve at production centred now," Shailaja said.
The meeting also discussed the possibilities of increasing the reserve capacity to 1000 MT to fight any sorts of emergencies. District collectors were apprised of the requirements of oxygen based on the treatment facilities being set up in their concerned districts.
"The meeting also decided to take steps to avoid oxygen leakage at the treatment centres and give training to those officials handling oxygen cylinders," the minister said in a release.
Meanwhile, developed economies have hoarded Covid-19 vaccines and the raw materials needed to make them. Now, they're being forced to act as an explosive outbreak in India raises the risk of new virus mutations that could threaten the wider world.
Under mounting criticism for dominating vaccine resources, the U.S. said this week that it will help India by sending items needed to manufacture vaccines as part of an aid package. European countries are also pledging help as new cases in the South Asian country smash world records. President Joe Biden's administration is separately vowing to share its stockpile of AstraZeneca Plc vaccines -- which the U.S. hasn't even approved for use -- and meeting with drug companies about boosting supply and waiving intellectual property protections on Covid-19 shots, a shift India and South Africa have been pushing for.
The moves show a growing realization that the vaccine nationalism many wealthy nations have embraced has the potential to backfire, prolonging the global pandemic. While those countries have been cornering supplies of the first vaccines for their world-leading rollouts, places like India have run short, allowing the virus to run wild.
Some scientists have linked the nation of 1.3 billion people's second wave to a more virulent strain, with the out-of-control outbreak providing a petri dish for further mutations to evolve that could challenge the vaccines now being distributed from the U.K. to Israel.
