India’s near-steady decline in new coronavirus disease cases for over four weeks has reduced medical oxygen consumption in hospitals, but the Centre has initiated a process to import oxygen to address any surge in Covid-19 cases.

The number of Covid-19 patients on medical oxygen — through oxygen-supported beds, intensive care unit beds, or ventilators — rose from around 43,000 on September 1 to a peak of 75,000 on September 25. It fell to 57,000 patients on October 19.

A top Union health ministry official released data on Tuesday showing that India has never been short of medical oxygen. Although hospital requirement of medical oxygen peaked to 2,791 metric tonnes per day during the September 9-15 week, end-of-week stocks have always exceeded 13,000MT.

However, the Centre has now initiated a process to import 100,000MT of liquid medical oxygen to ensure adequate stock and address any surge in Covid-19 cases that might occur in the post-festival weeks and the winter months.

A senior government official explained to The Telegraph that an import was considered as prudent because the epidemic’s trajectory remains uncertain and the country’s demand for industrial oxygen is expected to rise.

“In normal pre-Covid time, industry used to consume about 4,500MT oxygen per day. This declined drastically from March to September and is now picking up and may eventually cross pre-Covid-19 levels. In such scenarios, there will be no surplus left,” the official said.

India’s daily additions of new coronavirus disease cases fell below 50,000 for the first time in 84 days on Tuesday.

Health authorities on Tuesday recorded 46,790 fresh Covid-19 cases, the first time this number is below 50,000 since July 29 when India had recorded 52,123 cases. Despite the nationwide fall in numbers, new cases continue to rise in some states, including Bengal.

Bengal’s seven-day average of daily new cases, for instance, has increased from 3,225 on October 2 to 3,806 on October 19. In Kerala, the seven-day average climbed from 7,509 on October 2 to 8,601 on October 12. It fell to 7,393 on October 19.

The number of active patients nationwide has declined from a peak of over one million cases in mid-September to around 748,000 on Monday. But “we’re not in a position to sit back and relax,” Rajesh Bhushan, the Union health secretary said. “We have to do more of what we have been doing.”