Sri Lanka Navy vessel “Shakthi” to set sail to Chennai in India today (16 to bring Oxygen, the Navy said.
Navy Spokesman Captain Indika de Silva said that the vessel will leave today after formalities to bring the oxygen and it will take round 36 hours to reach the Chennai port.
SLNS Shakthi is the largest tanker ship of Sri Lanka Navy.
Sri Lanka to import oxygen from India
The government decided to purchase 100 MT of oxygen from India per week, for COVID-19 treatment facilities, Ministry of Health announced on 14 August.
This is following the warnings that Sri Lanka’s health system is reaching its maximum capacity with the rapid increase of COVID-19 patients and deaths owing to spread of delta varient islandwide. They said that COVID-19 deaths could rise in the future due to lack of oxygen.