COVID-19: Kejriwal writes to all CMs, urges them for spare oxygen

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in the country, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote his counterparts in other states on Saturday requesting them to provide oxygen to the national capital if they have spare.

"I am writing to all Chief Ministers requesting them to provide oxygen to Delhi if they have spare. Though the central government is also helping us, the severity of corona is such that all available resources are proving inadequate," tweeted the Chief Minister.

Hospitals in the national capital are grappling with the shortage of oxygen due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. The administration including the Delhi Police has been working hard to meet the demad of hospitals on SOS basis.

Amid complaints of oxygen shortage in Delhi hospitals, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Saturday said that Delhi has been allotted more than the oxygen quota it had asked for and it is the state government's responsibility to rationalise and plan for it.

"Each state has been assigned their quota for oxygen as per the production of oxygen in India. Even Delhi has been allotted more than the (oxygen) quota they had asked for, and Delhi CM even thanked the PM for that yesterday... Now to rationalise the quota in a timely manner and the responsibility to finely plan it lies with the state government," he said.

Dr Vardhan also stated that the Central government has also assured unhindered transportation of oxygen in the national capital.

Delhi registered 24,331 new COVID-19 cases and 348 related deaths on Friday. This is the second consecutive day when the national capital reported the highest number of fatalities due to coronavirus infection in a single day.

As of now, there are 92,029 active COVID-19 cases in the city, taking the total coronavirus tally to 9,80,679. The death toll in the national capital has mounted to 13,541.

The positivity rate in Delhi stood at 32.43 per cent and the case fatality rate is at 1.38 per cent.

( With inputs from ANI )