12.15 pm: The Delhi High Court says that it will “not spare anyone” who tries to obstruct oxygen supply to treat Covid patients, reports PTI. “We will hang that man,” the court adds.

11.55 am: Medical Director of Delhi’s LNJP Hospital, Suresh Kumar, says that all intensive care units at the facility are full since last four to five days, reports ANI. “Some critical patients need 40 to 50 litre of oxygen per minute to maintain oxygen saturation level,” he adds. “The oxygen supply chain is compromised.”

11.53 am: The Union Territory of Ladakh records 152 new Covid-19 cases, taking the infection count to 13,089, reports PTI.

11.47 am: Congress leader P Chidambaram urges the Centre to make vaccines available to the Indian population at a greater scale. “There are widespread complaints about the lack of supply of vaccines,” he writes on Twitter. “The government’s claim that there is no shortage of vaccines is hollow and untrue.”

The Congress leader adds that while the decision to vaccinate all above the age of 18 was a welcomed, the Centre needs to take into account the “great resentment and protests” it could spark if people are refused doses. “When the surge in demand happens on May 1 and more people flock to hospitals for vaccination, will there be adequate stocks of vaccines all over the country?” he says.

“Is the government prepared for May 1? I am sceptical,” Chidambaram added. “Nevertheless, I urge the government to start preparing NOW in order to meet the much greater demand for vaccines on and after May 1.”

11.44 am: Priced at Rs 600 per dose, Indians getting inoculated with Covishield at private hospitals from May 1 could end up paying the highest price in the world for this vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, reports The Indian Express.

11.37 am: Amid an acute shortage of ramdesivir, around 5,000 vials of this anti-viral drug seized by agencies in Maharashtra are lying unused pending court’s permission, reports PTI.

These vials were seized during the raids conducted by the Food and Drugs Administration and the police department in different parts of Maharashtra in March and April, says an official.

“After the seizure, we have to gather evidence, frame charges and produce the seized stock before the court,” he adds. “The case has to be very strong for the state to win it. Only then, these vials can be used for COVID-19 patients.”

11.34 am: A train carrying tankers of liquefied oxygen arrives in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, reports ANI.

11.29 am: An oxygen tanker arrives in Delhi’s Batra Hospital after the hospital pleaded for fresh supplies, saying it would run out of stocks in another one-and-a-half hour.

However, authorities say the replenishments received were not enough to meet the demand. “We have received only 500-litre of oxygen after pleading for 12 hours,” Medical Director SCL Gupta tells ANI. “Our daily requirement is 8000 litres. We’ve 350 patients in the hospital. The treatment of choice in COVID is oxygen but when we don’t get it what will happen?”

11.28 am: The Customs Department says it will fasten the clearance process for import consignments relating to the coronavirus pandemic, reports ANI.

11.25 am: Bhutan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Tandi Dorji expresses solidarity with India “in this most difficult period of the pandemic”, reports ANI. “Praying and hoping for quick relief and recovery [of the citizens],” he says.

11.22 am: The Delhi High Court is hearing a plea by Maharaja Agrasen Hospital regarding the acute oxygen shortages in the Capital, reports ANI.

9.52 am: Amid the surge in Covid cases in Uttar Pradesh, the Gurdwara Samiti of Indirapuram in Ghaziabad is providing oxygen cylinders to patients, reports PTI.

Though the group isn’t providing cylinders for home, patients can come to the Indirapuram gurdwara and use them till their oxygen levels normalise. The group has helped 250 Covid patients so far.

9.50 am: A night curfew will come into force in Andhra Pradesh from today, reports the Hindustan Times. The restrictions will be in place from 10pm to 5am, the Chief Minister’s Office says.

9.47 am: The Delhi Police arrest a 51-year-old man after 48 oxygen cylinders were seized from his home in the city, reports NDTV. A team of Delhi Police recovered 32 big and 16 small cylinders of oxygen during a raid at the house in the south-west area of the Capital on Friday.

The owner of the house, Anil Kumar, claimed to have a business of industrial oxygen, but could not produce a license for his business, the police say.

9.10 am: The Moolchand hospital in Delhi takes to Twitter to plead with the government to replenish its oxygen, saying they only had supplies worth about two hours left. The hospital has 135 Covid-19 patients, many of whom are on life support.

9.09 am: Some visuals from Maharashtra and Odisha where restrictions have been imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19.

9.06 am: A 61-year-old Covid patient in Bengaluru allegedly dies by suicide after he hanged himself at a city hospital on Friday night, reports ANI, quoting the Karnataka Police.

9.02 am: World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the situation in India is “a devastating reminder of what the virus can do,” reports AFP.

8.59 am: Pakistani citizens urge Prime Minister Imran Khan to lend support to India as the country scrambles for supplies of oxygen and other emergency aid amid a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Pakistan citizens urge PM Imran Khan on Twitter to help India tide over Covid crisis

8.58 am: Delhi, Bengaluru and Maharashtra on Friday recorded their highest single-day toll from Covid-19 since the pandemic began in January last year.

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Coronavirus: Delhi, Maharashtra and Bengaluru record highest single-day toll

Here are the top updates from Friday