Bhutan will supply liquid oxygen to India to help tide over the health crisis posed by the raging second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Daily, 40 metric tonnes of liquid oxygen will be exported to Assam using cryogenic tankers, the Indian embassy said in a statement.
The liquid oxygen will be produced at a new plant set up at the Motanga Industrial Estate in Samdrup Jongkhar district. The plant has a domestic investment of 51% by Bhutanese company SD Cryogenics Gases Private Limited and Foreign Direct Investment of 49% by Assam-based Meghalaya Oxygen Private Limited.
“This is a practical manifestation of the uniquely close and friendly ties between India and Bhutan,” said the embassy. “The provision of oxygen by Bhutan will augment India’s efforts to win the fight against Covid-19 and save precious lives.”
Countries and regions around the world are pledging to send urgent medical aid to India as its Covid-19 crisis reached horrific proportions, with hospitals turning away patients after running out of medical oxygen and beds. Patients are struggling to get access to medicines and ventilators, and hospitals are taking to Twitter and going to court to desperately plead for more oxygen supplies.
On Sunday, the European Union said it had activated its EU Civil Protection Mechanism and was seeking to send oxygen and medicine to India. The United Kingdom said it was sending life-saving medical equipment, including ventilators and oxygen concentrators.
United States President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris too promised to help. The US National Security Advisor spoke to his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval and promised to make available the raw material required to manufacture the Covishield vaccine.
Pakistan, France, Germany and China have also offered help in recent days.
India on Tuesday registered 3,23,144 new coronavirus cases in a day, taking the total number of infections since the pandemic broke out in January 2020, to 1,76,36,307. While the single-day infection count is slightly less than Monday’s count, India registered more than 3 lakh cases for the sixth day in a row. With 2,771 deaths, the toll went up to 1,97,894.
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