People in Mexico Line up for Hours To Get Oxygen Amid COVID-19 Surge
A detail of the hand of a relative of patients with COVID-19 waiting to refill oxygen tanks for no charge in a mobile plant of Civil organization AMPE (AsociaciÛn de Municipalidades del Peru) on August 4, 2020 in Lima, Peru. High demand of oxygen boosted its price and Peruvian government declared it as a "strategic resource." Raul Sifuentes/Getty Images

COVID-19 cases in Mexico City continue to increase, resulting in supply shortages in oxygen as reported by medical supply stores that refill oxygen tanks.

The Mexico City government has called citizens to go into total isolation as hospitals in the city become flooded with pressure due to an increase in the admission of COVID-19 patients.

According to federal data, over 85 percent of general care beds for COVID-19 patients in Mexico City are currently being occupied, while around 74 percent of those with ventilators are in use, as reported by Mexico News Daily.

Oxygen support is usually needed not only for people with COVID-19. But also for recovering patients who are still having intermittent problems with breathing.

Appeals of people asking for leads on where to buy and refill oxygen tanks have been usual on social media. Based on Google Trends, search terms related to oxygen and oxygen tanks surged in Mexico City, including in Mexico state, Chiapas, Campeche, and Tamaulipas.

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said her administration aims to determine whether the prices of oxygen tanks and refills have gone up amid the increase in COVID-19 cases.

Meanwhile, the demand for oxygen as the coronavirus spreads through the capital of nine million residents has driven prices up and made lines long in stores supplying oxygen, according to an Associated Press report.

New Year's Day Line

In Mexico City, people stood in line to take advantage of a city offer of free oxygen refills for COVID-19 patients on New Year's Day.

One person took his place in line at 8 a.m., bringing three tanks he wanted for his sick relatives. He only had learned about the offer on its third day via Facebook.

Jorge Infante said that by getting his three tanks filled for free, his family would save about $45 per day.

Iztapalapa, the capital's largest borough, is one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. The area was also low on oxygen.

Carlos Morales, Iztapalapa's health director, said the economic conditions "are not first world."

"That means that people are suffering to get tanks," he said in a report. Morales further noted that they are trying to fill about 50 tanks per day.

Some residents also spent New Year's Eve in lines, waiting to refill oxygen tanks for relatives suffering from COVID-19. One person said that the price had risen two or three times.

Juan José Ledesma, a Mexico City retiree, got sick with his wife and son. He had to stay at home to consult a private doctor as the local hospital had no room due to many people coming in for treatment.

Ledesma said that he thinks about the rural area, where things are tougher, and people have to wait longer.

An employee in one oxygen refill store said there were times when so many people were waiting that they could not fill completely all of the canisters.

"There are times when we have to reduce the refill, so that everybody who is line can at least bring some oxygen home to their relatives," the employee noted.