Karnataka has overtaken Maharashtra to become the state reporting the highest number of coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. The numbers have put a strain on health workers, hospital infrastructure and oxygen availability.
The southern state reported 39,305 infections, followed by Maharashtra at 37,236 cases in a day.
An Oxygen Express, carrying 120 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen, arrived in Whitefield on the outskirts of Bengaluru on Tuesday morning, marking the state's first such supply.
It came from Tatanagar and was given the highest priority to reach the state where people have died for want of oxygen.
"Normally when you run a goods train, you stop them at many places for allowing mail express trains or high speed trains. In this case, the highest priority was given to this train. And this train was not supposed to stop anywhere because of any operational reason. That is why this train has reached earlier," Ashok Kumar Verma, DRM, Bengaluru told NDTV.
Many hospitals in the state have been struggling with shortage of oxygen, a critical component in the treatment of critically ill Covid patients, in districts and in capital Bengaluru.
Visiting a Covid war room, with hospital beds still hard to come by, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said doctors should ask patients getting better to go home to free up precious hospital beds.
"Even today, in our state it (Covid case number) is more than Maharashtra. We are trying to control this - you are also supporting us. I have given one bit of advice. Patients who have been in hospital for 30 days (who are improving) should vacate hospital beds to make space for others. They should go home and take treatment instead of staying in the hospital. This would mean serious patients can't get treatment," the Chief Minister said.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is starting to decentralise Covid management to the ward level in an attempt to improve matters in the city with the highest number of active cases.
The state's vaccination drive, like in the rest of the country, has been hit by shortage of supply.
"Very concerned about why vaccines are in such short supply. Can we please know where the 70 million doses are being deployed every month? @MoHFW_INDIA We need better transparency to avoid the suspense. If a timetable of supplies is made public people can patiently wait their turn," Biocon's Kiran Mazumdar Shaw tweeted.
