Govt panel warned of Oxygen crisis, said prepare for 6 lakh cases a day: report

India is in the midst of an unprecedented health emergency. an Empowered Group of Officers under Niti Aayog Member Dr V K Paul had warned the govt of the looming crisis.

The Indian Express has reported that just 10 days ago, the group had told the central govt to take urgent measures for oxygen provision to meet a surge of 3 lakh new cases a day by April 20, and a surge of 5 lakh new cases a day by end of April.

This Empowered Group-1 on ‘medical infrastructure and Covid management plan’, under Dr Paul, who is a member of the government’s core team responding to the pandemic, had also recommended “extraordinary measures to ramp up oxygen provision” under a ‘Plan B’ to meet a surge of 6 lakh new cases a day, the report said.

Stating India cannot handle surges of over 2 lakh cases a day, it had underlined the need for scaling-up non-Covid Care and other measures.

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