Himachal CM urges PM to double oxygen quota as state sees record cases

As Himachal Pradesh witnessed the highest single-day spike in COVID cases on Saturday, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to double the medical oxygen quota for the state.

Speaking to ANI, the Chief Minister said, "I received a phone call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. We had a detailed discussion on 2-3 topics related to the COVID situation in the state. Prime Minister said we have to put restrictions while maintaining the livelihood of people as the death rate is increasing."

On shortage of medical oxygen, Thakur said, "I requested him to double our oxygen quota. I especially mentioned that we are facing difficulty in providing oxygen to patients as we have fewer oxygen cylinders and we need more of that. Prime Minister assured full support from the Centre."

Himachal Pradesh recorded 5,424 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, taking the infection tally to 1,28,330, said an official. This is the highest single-day spike in COVID infection in the state. Himachal Pradesh recorded 37 COVID-related death on Saturday. With this, the death toll has mounted to 1,817 in the state.

As many as 3,007 patients have been recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours pushing the total number of recoveries in the state to 94,586. Meanwhile, the active number of COVID cases in Himachal Pradesh stands at 31,893.