Hospitals around the nation are running out of oxygen as a result of the Covid-19 jump. Health oxygen is being removed from industrial use.

“The ‘Oxygen Express,’ carrying six tankers with a total capacity of 64 MT of the life-saving gas, departed from Bokaro at 5.30 a.m. It is scheduled to arrive in Jabalpur tonight and in Bhopal on Wednesday “said the official.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, also said that the train would arrive in the state on Tuesday night.

Chouhan said in a message that two of the tankers would be discharged in Jabalpur and four at the Mandideep station near Bhopal.

According to a railway official, the train will arrive in Bhopal after passing through Kotshila, Jharsuguda, Bilaspur, New Katni, and Jabalpur.

Special arrangements have been made to unload the tankers at Jabalpur and Mandideep, he added.

Uday Borwankar, the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of Bhopal, is tracking the train’s movement to ensure a smooth journey and to provide relief to people in need of oxygen in hospitals as soon as possible, according to the official.

Madhya Pradesh posted 12,686 Covid-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total to over five lakh.

According to official estimates, the state’s caseload is 5,11,990, including 5,221 deaths.

Drive-in Covid testing and vaccination center’s set up in MP

Two drive-in Covid 19 testing centers have been developed in Indore to expedite testing at a time when growing infections in the disease’s second wave have overburdened healthcare facilities. According to an Indore municipal corporation officer, the drive-in centers were developed to address the backlog in sample collection for Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction, or RT-PCR tests. With 12,591 active cases, Indore is the worst affected city in MP.

The two drive-in centers have a total capacity of 4,000 tests per day, with reports accessible within 24 hours, according to Pratibha Pal, commissioner of the Indore Municipal Corporation. In these two locations, the company has also made additional provisions for evaluating the specially-abled.

Pathology technicians can gather samples while suspicious patients pass through the checking counters with their two and four-wheelers at these facilities. However, Indore residents would need to register in advance to get RT PCR samples, according to the officer.

She said that drive-through centers would help save time because collecting samples at home was a time-consuming operation. The proposal was also in line with MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s call for the state’s testing levels to be increased. Official statistics revealed that 54,982 samples were checked in the state on Monday, bringing the number to 75.11 lakh.

Meanwhile, the MP tourism department has set aside space in Bhopal for a drive-in vaccination center. People will be able to get a Covid vaccine shot while sitting inside their four-wheelers beginning May 1, according to Sheo Shekhar Shukla, principal secretary, tourism and culture department. Every day, approximately 300 doses will be administered through this mode.