The death toll from the Sitakunda oxygen plant fire rose to seven as another person succumbed to his injuries at Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) Sunday night, police said. "Probesh Lal Sharma, 55, of Sitakunda died at the intensive care unit of CMCH at 10:30pm. He was an operator of the oxygen plant," said Nurul Alam Ashek, in-charge of the hospital police outpost. The other deceased were identified as Salauddin (33) of Lakshmipur, Ratan Nakrek (50) of Netrakona, Md Kader Mia (58) of Noakhali; Selim Richil (39), Shamsul Alam (65), and Md Farid (32) of Sitakunda. The firefighting teams resumed rescue operations for the second day at Seema Oxygen in Sitakunda at 7am today. They searched through the debris at the blast site until late evening. However, they did not find any more bodies, according to the Agrabad Control Room of the fire service. The explosion at Seema Oxygen Plant in the Keshabpur area rocked nearby neighbourhoods Saturday, killing seven people and injuring more than 50. Chattogram Civil Surgeon Ilias Chowdhury said the process of handing over the bodies of the deceased to their relatives was underway. "Tk 50,000 was given to the family of each deceased." Thirty people are now receiving treatment at CMCH. They were initially given Tk7,000 each. Also, the authorities announced Tk 200,000 in monetary aid to the family of each deceased. Meanwhile, the Chattogram district administration formed a seven-member probe committee to investigate the fire. The committee was asked to submit a report within five working days, Deputy Commissioner Abul Bashar Mohammed Fakhruzzaman said. Also read: Govt announces financial aid for Sitakunda oxygen plant fire victims              

The government has announced to provide financial assistance to the victims of Sitakunda oxygen plant fire that claimed lives of six people and injured 50 others. State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Monnujan Sufian made the announcement on Sunday. She also expressed deep shock over the loss of lives in the fire. The government also announced Tk 25,000 for the burial of the deceased while Tk 2 lakh to the family members of each deceased. Besides, Tk 50,000 was announced for the treatment of the injured victims. Read more: Sitakunda oxygen plant fire: Death toll rises to 6 Already the cheques were handed over to the relatives of the deceased and injured victims. Six people were killed and 50 others injured in an explosion at Seema Oxygen Plant around 4:30 pm on Saturday. Among the injured, 30 were admitted to Chittagong Medical College and hospital (CMCH) hospital. A four-member committee was formed to look into the explosion.

An aggrieved father has blamed the private clinic where his wife gave birth for the subsequent deaths of the newborn twins, within hours of being born on Tuesday. The tragedy occurred at the Matriseba Normal Delivery Centre, a private clinic in the Port City’s Jhornapara area. The victims’ father Md Monir, a tempo driver, said his wife was admitted to the clinic when she went into labour around noon on Tuesday. “My wife gave birth to twins around half an hour after she was hospitalized,” said Monir, adding that the clinic asked him to shift the babies to Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH) for better treatment. Read: Stolen newborn rescued in Ctg; 3 held “Though the clinic demanded Tk 10,000 for their service, I paid Tk 5,000 since the babies were delivered normally,” he said. While he was engaged in arguing over this with the clinic authorities, the babies apparently died due to lack of oxygen. Monir blames the clinic for not letting him go and take his children to CMCH without paying the full amount. A tense situation befell the clinic as news of the tragedy spread through the area, said witnesses. Md Sakhawat Hossain, the OC of Double Mooring police station, said a team was dispatched to the clinic as soon as they learned about it, and they eventually brought the situation under control. The clinic was put under lock and key and four staff members were detained by police. OC Sakhawat said that legal action will be taken once allegations are filed officially with police.  

Health Minister Zahid Maleque said two liquid oxygen plants will be established in the country for more development of  the health sector. “One of the plants will be built in Manikganj while another in Northern part of the country,” said the minister. He said this at a programme at Colonel Malek Medical College and Hospital in Manikganj town on Saturday.  “During the Covid-19 pandemic we had a huge demand of oxygen and had to import it from India due to shortage in local supply. Currently 150 to 200 tonnes of oxygen are being produced in the country, he said.  Read: Bangladesh ready to tackle fresh surge in Covid cases: Health Minister Maleque said already three crore people in the country have received booster dose of vaccine against Covid-19 and a campaign is ongoing. “Yet we are not receiving much response from people regarding the booster shot,” he said. “Covid-linked deaths came down to zero due to vaccination but now every day two to five people are dying. We conducted a survey and found that now the unvaccinated ones are dying,” said the minister. He urged all to get vaccinated to keep themselves, their families and thus the country safe.  

Indian Railways’ fifteenth Oxygen Express arrived in Bangladesh carrying 200 MT of liquid medical oxygen on Wednesday. The special train set out from India through the Petrapole port carrying 10 containers of liquid oxygen and reached Bangladesh in the afternoon, said Benapole immigration authority. After customs formalities the train set out for Sirajganj west side of Bangabandhu Railway Bridge where the container will be unloaded, said Saiduzzaman, Benapole Railway station master. Benapole port Deputy Director A. Jalil said the oxygen crisis in India’s medical sector began in April when the country’s Covid situation got critical. As a result on 21 April the Indian government stopped exporting oxygen to Bangladesh. Read: India's fourth Oxygen Express arrives with 200 MT of medical oxygen Later, as the infection and death rate in their country decreased, they allowed the export of oxygen to Bangladesh from June 21. So far, in 15 consignments, the importer company Linde Bangladesh has brought in 3,017 MT of liquid oxygen, port authorities said. Bangladesh is the first foreign country where the Oxygen Express has been put into operation to deliver the life-saving gas amid rising Covid infections.

The whole world is in turmoil and humankind is endangered due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Our neighboring countries are already in terrible condition due to the second wave while other parts of the world are also facing a critical situation. This time the new coronavirus is infecting the lungs badly. Once infected, the patient's shortness of breath increases. So urgent oxygen becomes necessary to save lives and liquid medical oxygen comes as a lifesaver. Here we have discussed some essential facts about liquid medical oxygen, its production procedure and application in COVID-19 treatment. What is Liquid Medical Oxygen? How is it different from Industrial Oxygen? Liquid Medical Oxygen is highly pure oxygen that is usually used for medical purposes only. It is specially produced for the human body. Because of its low melting and boiling points, it remains in a gaseous state even at room temperature. However, liquification gives an easy transportation solution and lets you store in larger volumes. On the other hand, industrial oxygen is used for industrial settings such as combustion, oxidation, manufacturing plants, and more. Furthermore, industrial oxygen can accelerate some chemical reactions too. The steelmaking industry is one of the biggest users of industrial oxygen. However, this kind of oxygen is not intended for the human body.  Read COVID-19 Delta variant explained: Things to know about this Coronavirus strain The biggest difference between medical and industrial oxygen is that industrial oxygen is not safe to inhale. It is because the purity level is not up to the mark and it may contain contaminants from the tanks. On the other hand, medical oxygen tanks are different. While medical oxygen is solely used for the medical purpose only, industrial oxygen has multiple uses such as: - Manufacturing the metal items, for instance, steel production. - Cutting, welding, flame cleaning, etc. - It can also use as a bleaching chemical that helps to create paper and paper-based items. - Assist to create certain fuel Read Why Shouldn’t You Store Oxygen Cylinder at Home During COVID-19 Pandemic? Oxygen is necessary for human breathing to function the body properly. If the respiratory is not taking the oxygens properly, medical intervention is needed. Medical oxygen comes in handy to maintain a good blood oxygen level, otherwise, it can create serious health consequences, even lead to death. So a proper amount of medical oxygen is essential or else the imbalanced medical oxygen can lead to toxicity. While medical oxygen is regulated properly to ensure high purity, industrial oxygen doesn’t care about purity. As a result, industrial oxygen may contain irregular items and harmful contaminants. Therefore, industrial oxygen is not perfect to use for medical purposes. How is Liquid Medical Oxygen produced? Liquid Medical Oxygen has different production methods. The most common production method is the air separation unit or the ASU method. There are also fractional distillation methods, in which the gases obtained from the atmosphere are separated into different components after cooling in the liquid state and then liquid oxygen is extracted from there. Cryogenic Methods Cryogenic is a method of producing medical oxygen at very low temperatures. It is a type of liquid that has a normal boiling point level below -90 degrees Celsius is called a cryogenic liquid. There is a special type of container to store this kind of liquid. Cryogenic liquid containers are specially designed to be transported safely and at a very low cost. It is stored as liquid gas even at cryogenic temperatures below -90 C. These containers are made in such a way that liquid gas can be stored at very low temperatures. Read Linde Bangladesh to continue medical oxygen import from India Pressure Swing Absorption Technology It is a non-cryogenic oxygen production method. Oxygen can be produced in this way by applying a certain amount of high pressure. Hospitals can produce oxygen using this method.  The pressure swing method works under high pressure via a vessel that contains an adsorbent bed of ‘zeolite’ which eventually attracts the nitrogen more strongly than the oxygen. The nitrogen will stay in the bed and the gas leaving the vessel will be filled with oxygen.  Further, this will reduce the cost of transporting oxygen to hospitals. Read India's Oxygen Express arrives in Bangladesh In addition to these sources of medical oxygen, there are also portable oxygen generators known as oxygen concentrators, which can be used at home.

Linde Bangladesh has said it will continue the import of medical oxygen by train to supplement its local supply with active assistance from Linde India, the governments of India and Bangladesh.  This is one of several initiatives that Linde Bangladesh has embarked on to help support the fight against the current Covid-19 crisis, including the Medical Oxygen Booths inaugurated at Khulna Medical College Hospital earlier this week, it said. Read:Oxygen imported by pvt sector 'ready for unloading' in Benapole A spokesperson from Linde Bangladesh said the Oxygen Express was an initiative that Linde India worked on with the government of India, and “we’re glad to be able to adopt it for the growing crisis in Bangladesh as well.  The medical oxygen supply was sourced from Linde India plants in India and will be distributed to the Covid-19 dedicated hospitals nationwide.” Read:India working to resume vaccine export to Bangladesh, reiterates Doraiswami To meet the growing demand of medical oxygen in Bangladesh due to the rising Covid-19 cases, Linde Bangladesh on Saturday imported 200 MT of medical oxygen by train from India.  This first-of-its-kind initiative saw 10 ISO tankers being transported on the Oxygen Express from Jamshedpur, India and arrived at Bangabandhu West railway station via Benapole. Linde Bangladesh Limited is a member of The Linde PLc that has been present in Bangladesh since the 1950s.  Read: “Green Corridor” for oxygen tankers at ICP Petrapole A pioneer multinational company in the gases business, Linde Bangladesh has operations in Rupganj, Shitalpur and Khulna.  With close to 20 sales centers spread throughout the country, Linde Bangladesh serves over 35,000 customers from a wide array of industries - from hospitals to fabrication and from steel to food packaging and beverages.

Indian Railways' Oxygen Express entered Bangladesh with 200 MT of liquid medical oxygen on Saturday night as the country’s Covid-19 daily-death toll remained close to 200. Set out from Jamshedpur-Tatanagar in India’s Jharkhand state at 10 am, the train reached Bangladesh through Benapole around 10 pm on Saturday, sources at Bangladesh Railway told UNB. The train is carrying 10 containers of liquid oxygen and those will be unloaded after it reaches the west side of Bangabandhu Railway bridge on Sunday. Indian Railways' Oxygen Express has embarked on its first overseas journey to transport 200 MT of liquid medical oxygen to Bangladesh as the Covid-19 situation keeps  worsening in the country with increased hospitalization.   Also read: “Green Corridor” for oxygen tankers at ICP Petrapole

Six people were detained Friday from Rangpur Medical College and Hospital, on suspicion of smuggling oxygen cylinders. A press release signed by Mainul Islam Prodhan, senior information officer of the Health Ministry, revealed the information. Read: 4 held for selling oxygen cylinders at Pabna Hospital According to the notification, 3 trucks carrying the detainees arrived at the hospital on Friday evening. They contacted the responsible authorities and said that they were sent by a senior doctor named Rexaul Karim to collect oxygen cylinders, and deliver them to  some hospitals of the capital. They also added that they had documents supporting their statement. However, Abu Sayeed Khan Babu, the man in charge of  oxygen cylinders at the Rangpur hospital, immediately informed the police personnel on duty in the hospital checkpost about the situation. Acting on that lead, a team of Kotwali Police reached the area and detained the suspected oxygen cylinder smugglers following initial interrogation. They are  still under the custody of Kotwali Police as of filing this report.

Parts of Indonesia lack oxygen supplies as the number of critically ill COVID-19 patients who need it increases, the nation’s pandemic response leader said Monday, after dozens of sick people died at a public hospital that ran out of its central supply. “Due to an increase of three to four times the amount (of oxygen) needed, the distribution has been hampered,” said Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the coordinating maritime affairs and investment minister. Read:Vaccination 'most patriotic thing', COVID not yet finished: Biden The government is asking oxygen producers to dedicate their full supply to medical needs and will import it if needed, Pandjaitan said at the virtual news conference. This statement comes after Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikit said the government guaranteed oxygen supply for COVID-19 patients on June 26. At least 63 COVID-19 patients died during treatment at Dr. Sardjito General Hospital in Yogyakarta city since Saturday — 33 of them during the outage of its central liquid oxygen supply even though the hospital switched to using oxygen cylinders during that period, hospital spokesman Banu Hermawan said. “Their deteriorating condition contributed the most to their deaths,” Hermawan said. Read:UAE becomes world’s most vaccinated nation against COVID-19: Bloomberg's Vaccine Tracker The hospital’s central oxygen supply was operational again at 4:45 a.m. Sunday, after 15 tons of liquid oxygen were delivered. Medical oxygen comes in liquid and compressed forms. Yogyakarta Gov. Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X said the hospitals needed more oxygen than they needed before because of the increasing number of COVID-19 patients in the province. “We need more oxygen supply. But it does not mean there is no supply at all,” he said. Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country, has seen a rapid surge in COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks. The Health Ministry recorded 27,233 new cases with 555 deaths from the virus on Sunday. The country has recorded more than 2,284,000 cases, including 60,582 deaths. Read:Europe in vaccination race against COVID-19′s delta variant Pandjaitan said the incubation period means the number of people infected will continuously increase through mid-July. “It can increase again in the future if we cannot be disciplined,” he said.