Nepal, which has been hit hard by the second wave of COVID-19, received around 18,000 empty oxygen cylinders from China, The Himalayan Times said. The cylinders came in form of grant assistance from Nepal’s northern neighbor. 

Nepali officials received the cylinders in the Tatopani checkpoint in the northern district of Sindhupalchowk. It will be brought to Kathmandu via road, they informed. As the daily cases count surged to 8000, hospitals across the country have been reporting a shortage of oxygen. 

Earlier, when the country started to register spikes in cases,  it had airlifted around 400 cylinders from Beijing. China, thereafter, had promised to provide 20,000 cylinders to Nepal. 

Plans are afoot for getting the delivery of another 1600 cylinders. 

The Nepal government is actively seeking foreign help to deal with the crisis. KP Sharma Oli, the country’s caretaker prime minister, had earlier written an article in The Guardian to seek foreign help for his country. 

Authorities in Nepal are also ramping up oxygen production amid increased demand. In line with these efforts, Nepal-Korea Friendship Hospital in central Nepal’s Bhaktpur district, too, has started its own oxygen plant. The plant would produce 1,92,000 liter oxygen in a day. 
 
(SAM)