COVID-19: Venezuela will send oxygen to Manaus every seven days

Jorge Arreaza

CARACAS, Jan 24 (NNN-TELESUR) — The Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza announced that his country will send oxygen tanks to the Brazilian city Manaus every week.

“We are establishing an agreement so that 80,000 more kilos, five gondolas, can arrive every seven days in Manaus (Brazil),” Arreaza said during a televised interview.

“Being able to save a life thanks to that oxygen and alleviating such a complex situation is what characterizes solidarity when it is true and that is the job,” the official remarked. Manaus, in the Amazon state, suffers a sanitary collapse and a critical lack of oxygen. Also, it has been one of the worse-hit Latin American cities since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

On Jan 19, the first Venezuelan oxygen tanks arrived in Manaus after president Nicolás Maduro decided to assist the city at a critical moment.

Thus far, over 100,000 kilos of oxygen has been transported to the Amazon state.

“Brazil is a federal state, fortunately, for that reason, we had information on the seriousness of the health situation in Manaus, particularly the state of Amazonas. We communicate with the governor, Wilson Lima, a man who is from a right-wing party, but concerned about the situation the people are experiencing,” Arreaza explained.