Thalita Rocha Lima was visiting a busy Covid-19 ward in Manaus, the largest Brazilian city in the Amazon this month, when her mother-in-law Maria and other patients suddenly became aroused, broke a sweat and gasped as their fingertips turned purple.
“I ran to check the equipment and then I realized there was no more oxygen,” said Ms. Rocha Lima, rushing into the hall and shouting, “They’re dying.”
The hospital director told her the hospital was out of oxygen and did not know when it would get more, she said. Her mother-in-law, a 67-year-old retired nurse, suffocated about 14 hours after the oxygen ran out, along with others in her ward, Ms. Rocha Lima said.
As Covid-19 cases are on the rise in much of the world, a lack of oxygen is forcing hospitals to ration it for patients and pushing up the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic. The problem is especially acute in the developing world, but has also affected hospitals in London and Los Angeles.
From Brazil to Zambia, overcrowded hospitals with insufficient resources demand emergency supplies of oxygen. In Mexico and South Africa, people are stocking up on oxygen canisters to keep the Covid-19 departments from overflowing, driving prices up and making it harder for poorer families to rent tanks. In Mexico armed bandits steal oxygen tanks.