India has enough oxygen but transportation is an issue: Govt

NEW DELHI: Centre on Monday appealed to people to not panic and assured that India has enough stock of medical oxygen, but the issue is its transportation.
"We have enough stock of oxygen. The issue is transportation which we are trying to resolve by active involvement of all stake holders," additional secretary in the ministry of home affairs Piyush Goyal told a press conference.
"There is absolutely no need to panic for oxygen as we are trying to resolve the issue of oxygen transportation from the producing states to high demand areas," it added amid surge in demand.
It also said that rational use of medical oxygen and appropriate prescription of drugs such as Remdesivir, Tocilizumab are critical in the fight against the pandemic.
"India is ordering oxygen tankers from abroad on a purchase or hiring basis. The transportation of oxygen tankers is a major challenge. Using real-time tracking, we are monitoring the movement of oxygen tankers," MHA said.
MHA also asked all states and Union territories to implement an intensive, local and focused containment framework, stressing on specific districts and areas to snap the chain of transmission.
In a letter, MHA said the district authorities should be sensitised on the strategy for imposing restrictions and it should be widely disseminated to the public and to the field functionaries for their effective implementation.
The government stressed on continuing vaccination of people, even at a faster pase, and maintaining Covid-19 appropriate behaviour.
The Covid-19 situation continues to be grim in India with 3,52,991 people testing positive and a record 2,812 deaths reported on Monday.