Oxygen express leaves India for Bangladesh amid record single day COVID deaths

The second Oxygen express train carrying 200 Metric tonnes of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) left India for Bangladesh on the morning of Tuesday amid surging COVID 19 deaths in the country. The ten containers which left Tatanagar station of South Eastern railway in Jharkhand will significantly augment the reserve of the LMO in Bangladesh.

Earlier, the first Oxygen express train with 200 MT of LMO had arrived in Bangladesh on 24 July. During the Eid holidays, India supplied more than 180 tonnes of medical oxygen to Bangladesh under special arrangements through the land route via Benapole.

With the latest consignment a total of 580 MT of LMO has been supplied to Bangladesh from India to help it fight the corona pandemic.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh witnessed the second consecutive day of record COVID 19 deaths on Tuesday. According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), 258 people died on Tuesday which surpassed the record number of 247 deaths recorded on Monday. The country also registered the second highest number of 14,925 new COVID infections during the same period. However, the sample positivity rate declined for the fourth consecutive day to 28.44 percent.

Ramping up its efforts to contain the spread of Coronavirus, the government announced that the COVID vaccination of the people at the union parishad level will begin from August 27. Any person above the age of 18 will be able to get the vaccine by showing their National Identity Card (NID) at the centre.