Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the production of liquid medical oxygen, a key component in the treatment of Covid-19 patients, has gone up by ten times.

Addressing the nation, Modi said: "Friends, when the second wave came, the demand for oxygen surged all of a sudden. This was a very big challenge in delivering medical oxygen to remote parts of the country was indeed a huge task."

"If an oxygen tanker moves fast, the slightest error can lead to the risk of a big explosion. Many plants manufacturing industrial oxygen are located in the eastern parts of the country. Transporting oxygen from there to other states of the country requires many days," he said.

Modi said in confronting this challenge, the country was helped by cryogenic tanker drivers, the Oxygen Express and Air Force pilots.

"Many such people worked on a war footing, saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people," said he.