Covid-19 Wrap-up: 24 patients dead after hospitals in Karnataka district run out of oxygen

We take it for granted, don't we? We take a deep breath. Air enters our lungs and oxygen from the air moves from our lungs to our blood. We never think about that oxygen. As Covid-19 infects the lungs and induces a shortage of oxygen in the body, patients are shifted into oxygen therapy or put on ventilators in critical cases. That medical oxygen saves lives and somehow right now, the people who need it across the nation are not getting it.

Some stories are so heartbreaking that one can only hope that they would never be normalised. A total of 24 patients died in Chamarajanagar district, 175 kilometres from Bengaluru, on Sunday, after hospitals ran out of oxygen. Officials said that 23 patients died at the district Covid-19 hospital and one at a private hospital. According to the district administration, as many as 12 patients died due to lack of oxygen, while others died from comorbid conditions.

The state government appointed IAS officer Shivayogi Kalasad to probe the incident and submit a report in three days.

As hospitals across the nation struggle to secure oxygen, two hospitals in Bengaluru — Medax Hospital in RT Nagar and Rajarajeshwari Medical College — have sent out SOS calls about oxygen shortages.

The Supreme Court has directed the Centre to prepare a buffer stock of oxygen for emergency purposes in collaboration with states and decentralise the location of the stocks so that it is immediately available if the normal supply chain is disrupted.

The Centre, however, continued to claim that there was no "shortage" of the life-giving gas in the country.

The country's daily Covid-19 cases showed a slight dip with 3.6 lakh new Covid-19 infections being reported in a day, taking the total case tally to 1.99 crore according to the Union Health Ministry data updated this morning. The active cases have crossed the 34-lakh mark and comprises 17.13 per cent of the total infections, while the national recovery rate stands at 81.77 per cent.

As the second Covid-19 wave continues to engulf several parts of the country, the Centre said today that some states were showing very early signs of plateauing in daily new Covid-19 cases, while some remain a cause of concern.

The Supreme Court also asked the Union and state governments to consider imposing a ban on mass gatherings and super-spreader events, as well as to bring about a lockdown, to curb the spread of Covid-19 "in the interest of public welfare".

There's another shortage we're hearing a lot about - vaccines.

The Narendra Modi-led government hasn’t placed an order larger than 11 crore doses from the biggest local maker since sales started in December, according to a person familiar with the matter — enough for just 4 per cent of the population of about 140 crore people. The lack of a larger central stockpile, coupled with the devastating second Covid-19 wave, is now making local state governments scramble and compete with one another in placing orders with manufacturers.

As plumes of smoke rose from cremation grounds, where bodies were arriving faster than they could be burned, teams of professional cricket players squared off under the lights of a cavernous stadium named after Narendra Modi. Days after this jarring scene, the lights of the stadium turned dark. And it was due to a virus. Covid-19 has breached the super-secure IPL bio-bubble.

The Kolkata Knight Riders' Varun Chakaravarthy and Sandeep Warrier tested positive for the disease, forcing the postponement of the team's game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Ahmedabad this evening. They were not the only team hit. Three members of the Chennai Super Kings contingent - chief executive Kasi Viswanathan, bowling coach L Balaji and a bus cleaner - also tested positive for Covid-19. Balaji's result, in particular, has left the BCCI in a fix about the next few IPL games in Delhi.