A 54-ton oxygen cylinder, capable of filling 90,000 m³ of liquid oxygen, will leave the Port of Santos on a Navy ship this Tuesday (19) bound for Belém, Pará, to help patients with Covid-19 in Manaus . After being bottled in the city of Pará, with the equivalent of 9 thousand hospital cylinders, the equipment will be transported by ferry to the capital of Amazonas.

The Brazilian Navy vessel is 90.5 meters long, reaches a speed of 25 knots and has a range of up to 35 days.

Since last week, the state of Amazonas has faced a new collapse in the health system, with a lack of medical supplies - such as oxygen balloons - in hospitals in the capital and consequent transfer of patients to other units. In addition, the number of deaths and cases of Covid-19 increased again in the capital.
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In the first wave of the disease, last year, oxygen consumption was 28,000 cubic meters in Manaus, a level far above that recorded before the pandemic. Now, according to the Ministry of Health, demand has reached 75,000 cubic meters a day, almost three times the local production capacity.

According to the state government, Amazonas is experiencing the worst health crisis of all time due to the increase in the number of cases of the new coronavirus and the lack of hospital oxygen to assist patients. For two consecutive days, the number of burials in the capital exceeds 200, higher than that recorded in the first peak of the disease, between April and May of last year.

Help was needed from other states, civil society and also the transfer of hospitalized patients with Covid-19 so that the lack of oxygen would not cause even more victims in the state.

The vessel should arrive in Belém on the 28th and then it will be another seven days to Manaus.