The first Oxygen Express train to Delhi reached the national capital carrying around 70 tonnes of the life-saving gas on Tuesday, 27 April.
The train left Jindal Steel Plant situated in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, amid mounting COVID-19 cases and an acute shortage of medical oxygen in the capital city, with SOS calls pouring in from several hospitals in the past two weeks.
Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal tweeted highlighting the efforts of the Indian Railways.
The movement of these oxygen tanks came after 25 patients succumbed to COVID-19 in north Delhi’s Jaipur Golden Hospital, following a dip in oxygen pressure at the private healthcare facility on the night of 23 April.
Prior to this, Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital had reported deaths of 25 of the sickest COVID-19 patients as ventilators and BiPAPs failed to work effectively.
Delhi recorded the highest single-day rise in its COVID-19 death toll as 380 people succumbed to the infection in 24 hours on Monday. As per the city’s health department, the positivity rate stood at over 35 percent.
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