Amid a great spike in coronavirus cases, now Jalandhar is also facing a shortage in oxygen supply. According to DC Ghanshyam Thori, the district lacks 1600 oxygen cylinders. Regarding the same matter, DC Thori has sent a letter to Punjab Government through the Punjab Health System Corporation. In the letter, he has addressed the need for 16 metric tonnes of cylinder daily.

Around 3000-3500 oxygen cylinders are being consumed daily in the Jalandhar district. Apart from this, 400-500 cylinders are provided to other districts like Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahar. At present, the Jalandhar has been able to manufacture only 2400 cylinders from two plants. However, in total 4000 cylinders are needed daily to prevent the situation from worsening.

Some amount of liquid oxygen is supplied from Panipat, Sonipat, Rajpura, and Bathinda. But the situation is also deteriorating in these places, which might affect the supply of oxygen. Jalandhar DC, Ghanshyam Thore also said that “the government must immediately supply oxygen to the district.”

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Meanwhile, the price of oxygen cylinders is also spiraling up. There is a high demand for oxygen in the district and production is low, resulting in an increase in the price. Dr. Navjot Dahiya, President of the India Medical Association, Punjab, said, “One oxygen cylinder that was sold at around Rs 180- Rs 200 in the month of February this year is now being sold at Rs 450.”

Punjab has reported 4,653 fresh coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, including 380 cases from the Jalandhar district. The state has recorded 84 fatalities. With the new cases, the Punjab tally has jumped to 3,04,660.

The country today has reported 2.59 lakh new cases and 1761 fatalities on April 19.