New Delhi: Admissions to the emergency department of the AIIMS were restricted for around an hour as the oxygen pipelines were being reorganized due to an increased demand for the life-saving gas for COVID-19 patients coming in high numbers, officials said.

Around 100 coronavirus-infected patients are already receiving treatment at the emergency department. This is in addition to more than 800 patients who are already admitted at various centres of AIIMS, said the officials of the premier hospital.

Also Read:AIIMS halts contact tracing of healthcare workers exposed to Covid-19 amid staff shortage

"Admissions to the emergency of the AIIMS were restricted for an hour as the oxygen pipelines were being reorganized due to increased requirement of oxygen for COVID-19 patients.

"Admissions are open and the emergency department is functional now," an AIIMS official said.

Twenty people died at Delhi's Jaipur Golden Hospital, their lives ebbing away as the hospital waited for oxygen to be replenished, officials said on Saturday, day five of a deepening crisis over the scarcity of oxygen vital to save critically ill COVID-19 patients.

Every few hours, as it has been for the last days, hospitals across the national capital and its suburbs sent out desperate messages of help on social media and other platforms, flagging their dwindling stocks of oxygen.

Delhi logged 24,331 fresh COVID-19 cases and a record single-day jump of 348 deaths on Friday while the positivity rate stood at 32.43 per cent, according to the latest health bulletin.

Also Read:AIIMS Fellowship Programme Entrance CBT-I Result Declared