Oxygen Already Runs Low As COVID-19 Surges In South Africa

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The coronavirus storm has arrived in South Africa, but in the overflowing COVID-19 wards the sound is less of a roar than a rasp.

Medical oxygen is already low in hospitals at the new epicenter of the outbreak, Gauteng province, home to the power centers of Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, visiting a hospital Friday, said authorities are working with industry to divert more oxygen their way.

Some patients spilled into heated tents in the hospital parking lot. They lay under blankets in the middle of winter in the Southern Hemisphere, with a cold front bringing freezing temperatures this weekend.

“The patients are scared, very, very scared,” said Lynne Wilkinson, a public health specialist who is part of a volunteer effort seeking 100 oxygen concentrators for a 450-bed field hospital in Johannesburg.

But sourcing the portable, low-volume devices is a problem because they’re