Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh responding to a report that that the state has has reported suspected deaths due to Oxygen shortage said that six deaths had occurred at a private hospital in Amritsar right in the beginning when there was an oxygen shortage.
"We produced 70 tonnes of oxygen and required 300 tonnes, now we produce 400 tonnes of oxygen. There's no problem now," the CM was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Yesterday, the Union Health Ministry in a press briefing said that Punjab was the only state which informed the Centre about suspected deaths due to oxygen shortage, while all other states who have sent in their reports so far to the central government do not specifically mention deaths linked to oxygen shortage during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.
Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's Joint Secretary, Lav Aggarwal said: "States were asked about deaths related to oxygen shortage. As per reports so far, one state informed us about suspected cases. All states that sent us reports so far, have not told us that they've specifically reported a death due to oxygen." Although the secretary did not mention the state in his media briefing, sources informed ANI that it was Punjab.
Recently, the Centre had asked States and Union territories to submit data related to deaths due to oxygen shortage during the second wave of the COVID-19 wave in the country. The information was to be presented in Parliament before the monsoon session ends on August 13.
Meanwhile, 31 fresh COVID-19 cases were reported in Punjab on Monday, taking the overall number of infections to 5,99,514, said the state health bulletin.
As per the data provided by the state government, Punjab yesterday reported one death, pushing the cumulative death toll to 16,320. While the number of active cases in the state stood at 441, the total recoveries were 5,82,753, the bulletin said on Monday.
