A protest by transporters on Wednesday blocked a key road in Peru and prevented the delivery of imported medicinal oxygen from Chile to thousands of coronavirus patients.
Two tanker trucks with 43 tons of oxygen are stopped in the south and have not been able to advance to their destination, Alberto Valenzuela, the official in charge of oxygen supply, said on Wednesday.
“Chilean companies have instructed to be very cautious because this protest has turned violent. Traffic is risky, “he added to the local radio station RPP.
The shortage of oxygen caused the indiscriminate rise in its price and the lines of hundreds of relatives of COVID-19 patients in the few distribution points, in whose exteriors some slept for days to be able to refill their tanks.
At the end of February, 444 tons per day were needed but the arrival of oxygen from Chile began to balance that lack, according to the authorities.
But the road blockade since Monday is a new challenge for oxygen distribution.
Carriers are asking to pay less fuel taxes and a reduction in the price of diesel – which rose from $ 2.5 to $ 4 a gallon in less than two months.
The Ombudsman’s Office warned that at least 26 health centers only have oxygen until Thursday.
Dozens of vehicles circulate along the roads of Peru that distribute oxygen to 350 medical centers that house more than 16,300 patients who need this element to stay alive, according to the authorities.
Since the start of the pandemic, 49,330 people have died of coronavirus in Peru and more than 1.4 million have been infected, according to the Johns Hopkins University Center for Science and Systems Engineering.
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