Defence Minister Rajnath Singh directs DRDO to provide 150 jumbo oxygen cylinders to UP govt

DRDO supplied 150 jumbo cylinders of medical oxygen to the Uttar Pradesh government on Monday (April 19).

Photo courtesy: PTI

New Delhi: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Monday (April 19) supplied 150 jumbo cylinders of medical oxygen to the Uttar Pradesh government, as per directions by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

An additional 1,000 cylinders would be provided by the DRDO later. The oxygen would be supplied to hospitals in Lucknow for COVID-19 patients. The COVID-19 situation in Uttar Pradesh has deteriorated further with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath himself testing positive on Wednesday (April 14).

The state government on Friday announced a lockdown across the state on all Sundays till May 15. All districts of Uttar Pradesh are under lockdown from 8 pm on Saturday (April 17), which will continue till 7 am, Monday.

According to the Union Health Ministry, Uttar Pradesh currently has a total of 1,91,457 active COVID-19 cases, with 6,50,333 total infections and 9,830 deaths.

The COVID-19 situation in India continues to deteriorate, as the country yet again reported the highest single-day spike of coronavirus cases with over 2.73 lakh fresh infections and 1,619 deaths in the last 24 hours.

According to the Health Ministry, India reported at least 2,73,810 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of positive cases in the country to 1,50,61,919. There are currently 19,29,329 active cases in the country as of Monday.

(Inputs from ANI)