Covid-19: IAF fetches 12 cryogenic oxygens containers from abroad on Thursday

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Indian Air Force continued its relief operations to combat the shortage of oxygen in the country and fetched 12 cryogenic oxygen containers from Singapore, Dubai, and Bangkok. All the cylinders were brought to Panagarh airbase in West Bengal from where they were transported to other areas.

A statement from the ministry of defence late on Thursday night said six of these containers were brought from Dubai, three from Singapore, and three from Bangkok.

C-17s in service

The C-17 aircraft pressed into service for this purpose is a large military transport plane developed during the 1980s by McDonnell Douglas.

Within the country, C-17s airlifted a couple of cryogenic containers from Chandigarh to Bhubaneswar, four from Hindan to Ranchi, an equal number from Mumbai to Bhubaneswar, two from Chandigarh to Ranchi, and one from Indore to Jamnagar on Thursday.

The transport of two containers from Bhopal to Ranchi, two from Lucknow to Ranchi, and an equal number from Jodhpur to Jamnagar was in progress on Thursday night when the statement came.

Since critical oxygen shortage was reported from hospitals in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat were reported, the Indian Air Force has transported dozens of oxygen containers from abroad and ferried them from one region of the country to another for the benefit of COVID 19 patients.

C130 aircraft were also deployed to send Navy medical personnel from Mumbai to Ahmedabad on Thursday. These are also airlifting 75 oxygen cylinders from Baroda to Hindan.

Navy ships and Indian Railways are also involved in the mission to deliver oxygen in critical areas.

3.86 lakh fresh cases

According to the Union health ministry, the country recorded 3,86,654 fresh cases of infections on April 29 pushing the number of active cases to 31,64,825.

The number of total deaths on April 29 stood at 2,08,313.

A total of 1,53,73,765 patients have recovered from the infection too.