Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the national capital received 730 metric tonnes of oxygen on May 5.

In a letter, Kejriwal said that it was for the first time the national capital received more than 700 metric tonnes of the life-saving gas.

"Delhi has a consumption of 700 metric tonnes of oxygen on a daily basis. We have been urging the Centre on a regular basis to give us 700 metric tonnes. It was for the first time yesterday that Delhi received 730 metric tonnes," he said in the letter in Hindi.

He requested the prime minister that the national capital should be given this quantity everyday.

"I thank you from the bottom of my heart on behalf of Delhiites. I request you that Delhi should be given at least this much oxygen on a daily basis and there should not be any reduction in this quantity. The whole of Delhi will be grateful to you," he said.

Kejriwal also requested hospitals to increase Covid beds that they had to cut down due to a shortage of the life-saving gas in the past few days.

“If 700 MT of daily oxygen supply is ensured by the Centre, Delhi government can set up around 9,000-9,500 more oxygen beds,” he said.

He urged hospitals that were forced to cut down the number of oxygen beds due to shortage of the gas in recent days, to increase it now to the previous level.

This way, he added, 1,000-2,000 more beds will be added, he said.

Kejriwal said 35.74 lakh vaccine doses had been administered in Delhi.so far.

Around 28 lakh have received a single dose and 7.76 lakh both doses of the vaccine, he said.

The chief minister cited "enthusiasm" among the youth for vaccines, saying 1.30 lakh people aged 18 years and above have been vaccinated in Delhi in the last three days.

Hospitals across the national capital and its suburbs have been sending out SOS messages on social media about their depleting oxygen supplies.

On May 1, 12 Covid-19 patients, including a senior doctor, died at south Delhi's Batra Hospital after the facility ran out of medical oxygen for around 80 minutes in the afternoon.

The tragic incident occurred in less than two weeks of 20 coronavirus patients dying at Jaipur Golden Hospital and 25 at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, amid the oxygen crisis in the national capital.