In a twitter thread on Friday, he said Pakistan has also imported 19,200 oxygen cylinders last year to ensure the distribution.

He said we have so far managed to cope with surge of critical care Covid patients because of proactively building capacity of the entire system from oxygen production to beds.

Asad Umar said the total number of critical care Covid patients on oxygen reached 5360 yesterday. This is 57% more than the peak in last June.

He said proactive decision making with the help of God Almighty has helped to avoid the kind of scenes being witnessed in some other countries.

The Minister said the challenge is not over and the need for precautions and following SoP's is vital at this point in time.