'It's a tsunami,' says Delhi High Court on COVID-19 crisis
What's the story
If any official at any level obstructs oxygen supply, "we will hang that man," the Delhi High Court reportedly said today, terming the massive spike in coronavirus cases a "tsunami."
The observation was made by a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli as they heard a plea by Maharaja Agrasen Hospital over shortage of oxygen to treat patients.
Here are more details.
Details
'If we don't get 480 MT oxygen, system will collapse'
The Delhi government told the court that the healthcare system will "collapse" if the national capital does not get its sanctioned amount of medical oxygen.
"If we don't get 480 metric tonnes (of oxygen), the system will collapse. We have seen in the last 24 hours. Something disastrous will happen," the state government said, adding it only received 297 metric tonnes of oxygen yesterday.
Details
HC asks Centre about its preparedness to deal with crisis
The court asked the state government to inform the Centre about such officials who may be obstructing oxygen supply so that it could take action against them.
"We are calling it a wave, it is actually a tsunami," the city's top court remarked, and asked the Centre about its preparedness in terms of hospitals, medical staff, medicines, vaccines, and oxygen.
Quote
In Delhi, everything is put on us: Centre
During the hearing, the Centre put the blame back on the state government. "States are arranging from tankers to everything. We are just assisting them. But in Delhi, everything is put on us. Delhi officials have to do their job," the Centre reportedly said.
Hearing
Delhi HC also pulled up the Chief Secretary
The Delhi HC also pulled up the Chief Secretary, saying, "If allocation was done three days back, why didn't you exercise your option to look for tankers? Your political head has himself been an administrative officer, he knows how it works."
"The problem is you think allocation is done so everything will be served at your doorstep but that is not how it works."
Incidents
25 patients died due to oxygen shortage in Delhi
In an incident highlighting the deplorable condition in the national capital, 25 patients died last night at the Jaipur Golden Hospital in Delhi due to the shortage of medical oxygen, a hospital official said today.
Earlier, 25 sickest patients had died at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital within 24 hours amid an acute shortage of oxygen there.
Situation
Delhi reported 348 COVID-19-linked deaths yesterday
On Friday, Delhi reported 348 fatalities linked to the coronavirus - the highest single-day death toll since the outbreak.
It also recorded as many as 24,331 new infections and a huge positivity rate of 32%.
India is currently in the middle of an unprecedented second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, reporting lakhs of infections and hundreds of deaths daily amid an overburdened health infrastructure.