Exclusive | India's daily oxygen demand dips 70% in a month; Govt, industry brace for third wave

With the third wave of COVID-19 expected to hit India in the next six to eight weeks, the government and industry are preparing to forestall shortages of oxygen that could set back the battle against the pandemic.

After touching almost 9,300 metric tonnes per day (MTPD) in May, at the peak of the second wave, oxygen demand has declined by at least 70% in June.

According to data shared by the All India Industrial Gases Manufacturers’ Association (AIIGMA), the average demand for medical oxygen in June has fallen to around 2,700-3,000 MTPD.

"The industry is well-prepared for a third wave. States are coming up with subsidy mechanisms for setting up oxygen units. We are also enhancing storage capacity, which has to be done immediately," said Saket Tiku, president of AIIGMA.

Amid a record surge in the number of covid cases, oxygen demand had soared in May. Oxygen consumption was around 4,300 MTPD as of the middle of April and 3,100 MTPD in April last year; consumption averaged 850 MTPD in the pre-pandemic period.

"The second wave was the biggest crisis that the industry has faced in India, with limitations like limited supply of vehicles and all. We ramped up our production, with good coordination between the government and the industry. Now, the country will be able to effectively face a third wave, if at all it comes," Tiku said.

According to government data, India reported 53,256 new cases in the last 24 hours; its lowest number of daily additions in 88 days. While the rate of recovery increased to 96.36#, the weekly positivity rate remained below 5%t, currently at 3.32%.

After demand for oxygen started picking up in April, Indian Railways started running an oxygen express train on April 24 to ensure the availability of the life-saving gas across the country. So far, the national transporter has supplied nearly 32,464 MT of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) in more than 1854 tankers to states across the country.

The role played by the Indian Railways was key in India tiding over a shortage of oxygen; the train network supplied oxygen to 15 states -- Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana, Punjab, Kerala, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Assam.

So far, 614 MT of oxygen has been transported to Maharashtra, nearly 3,797 MT in Uttar Pradesh, 656 MT in Madhya Pradesh, 5,722 MT in Delhi, 2,354 MT in Haryana, 98 MT in Rajasthan, 4,333 MT in Karnataka, 320 MT in Uttarakhand, 5,674 MT in Tamil Nadu, 4,190 MT in Andhra Pradesh, 225 MT in Punjab, 513 MT in Kerala, 3,366 MT in Telangana, 38 MT in Jharkhand and 560 MT in Assam.

To improve efficiency, the average speed of these critical freight trains was kept above 55 kilometer per hour in most cases over long distances; technical stoppages were also reduced to 1 minute for crew changes over different sections of the network.