Some Mexicans struggle to get oxygen amid virus case surge Some residents of Mexico City are spending the new year in lines waiting to refill oxygen canisters for relatives suffering from COVID-19MEXICO CITY -- On New Year’s Day, dozens of people stood in line with empty oxygen tanks in one of Mexico City’s hardest hit boroughs to take advantage of a city offer of free oxygen refills for COVID-19 patients. The demand for oxygen as the virus spreads through the capital of 9 million residents has driven prices up and made lines long. Elsewhere in the capital, some residents spent New Year’s Eve in lines that snaked down a street and around a corner, waiting to refill oxygen canisters for relatives suffering from COVID-19. The city has seen a surge in coronavirus infections and the city’s hospitals are 87% occupied, straining oxygen supplies. The city government has started a program to give some people oxygen canisters or oxygen concentrators, which are machines that pull oxygen from the air and don't need to be refilled.

Source: ABC News January 01, 2021 16:18 UTC