A parliamentary committee has demanded the Union Health Ministry "audit deaths due to oxygen shortage", especially during the Covid second wave, in coordination with states to enable robust documentation of the mortalities.

The Centre on Tuesday informed Parliament that confirmed death due to oxygen shortage has not been reported by any state or union territory although over 5.21 lakh fatalities due to COVID-19 have been recorded in India.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday discussed with senior officials effective ways to ensure adequate medical oxygen availability in the country in the wake of increasing COVID-19 cases.

The Delhi government is prepared to deal with the Omicron variant of coronavirus, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said today, as he urged people not to panic amid itsspread in the city.The national capital has reported 24 cases of Omicron so far.

The Uttar Pradesh government today told the legislative council that no death due to lack of oxygen was reported in the state during the second wave of COVID-19, a claim rejected by the opposition.

The government had sought data from states and Union Territories on deaths of Covid patients due to oxygen shortage during the second wave and only Punjab and Arunachal Pradesh responded, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

The Health Minister has asked opposition parties to stop playing politics over oxygen shortage during the 2nd wave of COVID-19 infections and take note of the Centre's efforts to ramp production of oxygen to meet the surge in demand.

To the centre's 'All is well' messaging over the coal situation in the country, several states have said that the crisis and concerns over power blackouts are real. Many Chief Ministers have written to PM Modi spotlighting the same.

Hours after the Centre's assurance that it has "sufficient" stocks to meet power sector demand, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has accused it of turning a blind eye to the crisis at hand.

Delhi government has told Delhi High Court that there is no reason or lawful justification for the Lieutenant Governor to object to constitution of a high powered committee to probe deaths caused by alleged oxygen shortage during second Covid wave.

No deaths due to a lack of oxygen have been reported in Haryana during the Covid pandemic, the state government informed the assembly on Friday.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today said Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has again rejected the Delhi government's proposal to form a panel to "investigate deaths due to oxygen shortage" in the national capital.

If people don't follow the Covid protocol, a lockdown could be imposed again in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said yesterday on the country's 75th Independence Day. It is the worst-hit state in the country with over 1.35 lakh deaths.

An unspecified number of COVID-19 patients died due to a lack of medical oxygen at a hospital in Andhra Pradesh's Tirupati during the second wave, the centre told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today alleged that the Delhi government has not received any letter from the Centre inquiring if any deaths in the national capital occurred due to oxygen shortage during the second Covid wave.

A day after the Delhi Police told a court that the deaths of 21 Covid patients in the national capital's Jaipur Golden Hospital were not due to oxygen shortage, the families of the victims accused the authorities of trying to "whitewash" the matter.

Delhi Police told a court in Delhi on Tuesday that the death of 21 COVID-19 patients in Jaipur Golden Hospital in April was not caused due to oxygen shortage, a claim which contradicts the hospital's stand.

To encourage the plantation of more trees, a university in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain is planning to impose a voluntary "green cess" on people who visit its campus every day for exercise.

Earlier the Centre was severely criticised for saying it does not have data related to deaths caused by oxygen shortage in the country. Now it has asked states to supply the information, which it wants to collate and present before the country.

Days after the central government's statement in parliament that "no deaths due to oxygen shortage have been reported by states" during the second Covid wave, the Congress-led Chhattisgarh government has made an all-out attack on the centre.

Maharashtra faced a shortage of medical oxygen but it did not report any COVID-19 death due to it, state health minister Rajesh Tope said on Friday.

Congress leader KC Venugopal moved a privilege motion Thursday against Minister of State (MoS) for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar for "misleading" the parliament on deaths due to the shortage of oxygen in the country during the second Covid wave.

Tamil Nadu recorded no deaths due to oxygen shortage during the second wave of COVID-19, State Minister for Health Ma Subramanian said on Wednesday.

Madhya Pradesh saw no deaths due to oxygen shortage during the second wave of the pandemic and the Centre's statement made in Rajya Sabha that there were no such fatalities is a fact, state Minister for Medical Education Vishvas Kailash Sarang said.