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Indian actors Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna donate 100 oxygen concentrators to fight Covid-19 in India

First ‘Oxygen Express’ train stacked with around 70 tonnes of oxygen also arrived in capital city

Peony Hirwani
Wednesday 28 April 2021 14:36 BST
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India’s healthcare system ‘collapses’ as hospitals face oxygen shortage

Bollywood actors Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna donated 100 oxygen concentrators in an effort to contribute to the fight against the second wave of Covid-19 in India.

Khanna, who is also an author and newspaper columnist, tweeted: “Wonderful news - Dr Drashnika Patel & D. Govind Bankani of London Elite Health through Daivik Foundation are donating 120 oxygen concentrators and as Akshay Kumar and I have managed to get our hands on 100 as well, we have a total of 220. Thank you for the leads. Let’s all do our bit.”

The couple are also donating to the Annada foundation to provide nourishing meals to families affected by the pandemic.

“I think for the last few weeks with members of my own family ill, I have been in a bit of a hole. But I couldn’t stay there for long. I implore all of you in your own way to do whatever you can so we can look back at this bleak moment and at least say it took the worst but it brought out the best in all of us,” she wrote in another post.

Earlier this month, Kumar was admitted to a hospital in Mumbai after testing positive for Covid-19.

At the time, the actor took to Twitter to reassure his fans, writing: “Thank you, everyone, for all your warm wishes and prayers, they seem to be working.

“I am doing fine, but as a precautionary measure under medical advice, I have been hospitalised. I hope to be back home soon. Take care.”

On Tuesday morning, the first “Oxygen Express” train stacked with around 70 tonnes of oxygen also arrived in the capital of New Delhi as the Indian capital suffered an intense lack of the vital gas.

India officially reported 323,000 new cases on Tuesday, 8.4 per cent less than Monday as the testing rate dropped, and 2,771 deaths in a single day spike.

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