States grapple with enormous infection surge, fight over medical oxygen

Amid a massive shortage of medical oxygen India on Thursday morning reported yet another record daily spike of 314835 cases and 2104 deaths The steady surge for the past 43 days has led to chaos in several states with many accusing each other of blocking the supply of oxygenDr A C shukla medical superintendent of Delhirsquos Mata Chanan Devi hospital alleged that the oxygen tankers coming from Inox Air Products Ltd had been stopped at the border of Rajasthan by either the state government or the policeHearing a plea on Thursday on the supply disruption an anguished bench of Delhi High Court bench said ldquoWe all know that this country is being run by godrdquo and directed the Centre to take measures to remove obstructions in the transportation of oxygen The Centre then asked states to ensure uninterrupted production and supply of oxygen and its transport along interstate bordersDelhi is also seeing a shortage of beds According to an NDTV report at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital Delhirsquos biggest COVID facility patients made desperate pleas for a bed for their loved ones One Aslam Khan who had come to admit his wife Ruby 30 pleaded to the hospital staff ldquoMy wife will die Please admit herrdquo ldquoThey keep repeating lsquothere is no bedrsquo Should I get her treated on the floorrdquo NDTV quoted him as saying Then there is the shortage of vaccines In Kerala the vaccination response was slow initially but the centres are now seeing longer queues since the surge in cases according to an Indian Express report The state has stopped spot registration as it doesnrsquot have enough dosesAmid the surge came reports of violations In Assam over 300 domestic passengers fled the Silchar airport upon arrival on Wednesday to evade the test officials said on Thursday Meanwhile the Supreme Court termed the COVID19 situation almost a ldquonational emergencyrdquo as it agreed to hear a plea by Vedanta seeking a nod to open its Sterlite Copper unit at Tuticorin Tamil Nadu where it would produce thousand tonnes of oxygen and give it free of cost to treat patients The plea was opposed by the TN government for environmental reasons ldquoThere is almost a national emergency and you TN donrsquot put spokes in the solution We will hear it tomorrowrdquo the SC saidAgenciesNEW DELHI Amid a massive shortage of medical oxygen India on Thursday morning reported yet another record daily spike of 314835 cases and 2104 deaths The steady surge for the past 43 days has led to chaos in several states with many accusing each other of blocking the supply of oxygenDr A C shukla medical superintendent of Delhirsquos Mata Chanan Devi hospital alleged that the oxygen tankers coming from Inox Air Products Ltd had been stopped at the border of Rajasthan by either the state government or the policeHearing a plea on Thursday on the supply disruption an anguished bench of Delhi High Court bench said ldquoWe all know that this country is being run by godrdquo and directed the Centre to take measures to remove obstructions in the transportation of oxygen The Centre then asked states to ensure uninterrupted production and supply of oxygen and its transport along interstate bordersDelhi is also seeing a shortage of beds According to an NDTV report at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital Delhirsquos biggest COVID facility patients made desperate pleas for a bed for their loved ones One Aslam Khan who had come to admit his wife Ruby 30 pleaded to the hospital staff ldquoMy wife will die Please admit herrdquo ldquoThey keep repeating lsquothere is no bedrsquo Should I get her treated on the floorrdquo NDTV quoted him as saying Then there is the shortage of vaccines In Kerala the vaccination response was slow initially but the centres are now seeing longer queues since the surge in cases according to an Indian Express report The state has stopped spot registration as it doesnrsquot have enough dosesAmid the surge came reports of violations In Assam over 300 domestic passengers fled the Silchar airport upon arrival on Wednesday to evade the test officials said on Thursday Meanwhile the Supreme Court termed the COVID19 situation almost a ldquonational emergencyrdquo as it agreed to hear a plea by Vedanta seeking a nod to open its Sterlite Copper unit at Tuticorin Tamil Nadu where it would produce thousand tonnes of oxygen and give it free of cost to treat patients The plea was opposed by the TN government for environmental reasons ldquoThere is almost a national emergency and you TN donrsquot put spokes in the solution We will hear it tomorrowrdquo the SC saidStill need a reason to get jabbedNumbers donrsquot lie ICMR data proves a measly 003004 per cent vax receivers of two doses of Covishield or Covaxin vaccines contracted Coronavirus infectionCovishieldNo of 1st dose receivers 100302745No of infections 17145 002 per centNo of 2nd dose receivers 15732754No of infections 5014 003 per centCovaxinNo of 1st dose receivers 9356436No of infections 4208 004 per centNo of 2nd dose receivers 1737178No of infections 695 004 per centTotalNo of 1st dose receivers 109659181No of infections 21353No of 2nd dose receivers 17469932No of infections 5709Registration for 18 starts on April 28Registration for vaccination against COVID19 for all those aged above 18 will begin on the CoWIN platform and Aarogya Setu app from April 28 officials said on Thursday The inoculation process and documents needed to get the shot are the same as beforeBJP MLA joins Oppn in opposing vax pricingUpset over antiCoronavirus vaccine pricing by the Serum Institute of India a UP BJP MLA has compared its CEO Adar Poonawalla with a ldquodacoitrdquo Gorakhpur MLA Radha Mohan Das Agrawal tweeted ldquoadarpoonawalla you are worse than a dacoit PMOIndia AmitShah blsanthosh drharshvardhan should acquire your factory under epidemic actrdquo Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the new vaccine policy which she said implies that the Centre has abdicated its responsibility of providing free vaccine to all Indians between 18 and 45 years of age Gandhi urged him to intervene immediately to reverse itTrsquogana fumes over lsquolesserrsquo remdesivirSlamming the Centre for lsquolesserrsquo allocation of remdesivir to Telangana Health Minister Etela Rajender on Thursday said the state has to be given preference as it is home to many manufacturers of the antiviral drug Rajender told reporters that the central government has allotted only over 21000 vials from April 2130 as against the statersquos expectation of four lakhThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever