People Queue for Free Oxygen in India’s Ghaziabad As COVID Cases Soar (+Video)


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Amid the spiraling COVID-19 cases in India’s Uttar Pradesh, people are being provided oxygen cylinders to help patients at a time when the life-saving gas is in short supply.

Though cylinders aren’t being provided to people to take home, patients can come to the medical centers and use them till their oxygen levels normalize.

India TV News reported that volunteers have managed to arrange 25 big cylinders but they aren't enough when 500 COVID-19 patients are in dire need of oxygen.

India's 323,144 new cases over the past 24 hours stood below a worldwide peak of 352,991 hit on Monday, while 2,771 deaths took the toll to 197,894.

Delhi is in lockdown, as are the southern state of Karnataka and the worst-hit state of Maharashtra, although some states had been set to lift curbs this week.

India has turned to its armed forces for help as new cases have topped 300,000 since April 21.

India has converted hotels and railway coaches into critical care facilities to make up for the shortage of beds, but experts say the next crisis will be a lack of healthcare professionals.

India, with a population of about 1.3 billion, has a tally of 17.64 million infections, but experts believe it runs much higher.