In the intensive care unit of St Petersburg hospital, five coronavirus patients lost their lives due to a fire. The fire was caught because of a short-circuit on a ventilator, according to Russian news agencies. Russia’s Emergency ministry stated that “the fire was rapidly controlled and approximately 150 people were evacuated from the hospital”. One hundred five fire-fighters and 55 vehicles were sent promptly to the hospital. The number of people injured has still not been confirmed.
The five patients who died were all on ventilators in that unit. St Petersburg emergency department stated that probably the ventilator was overloaded and working beyond its limits due to which it caught fire. The fire was controlled and did not go beyond the sixth floor of the hospital.
The doctors quoted that the short circuit caused an explosion, and the ward was filled with smoke, which suffocated all the patients.
Since last month reports have claimed which showed a shortage of ventilators in Russia. Since that time, the production levels have increased, but research found that outside Moscow, several ventilators are old, which were made in the 1990s.
Only 5,483 hospital beds for Covid-19 patients are available in St Petersburg, which holds a population of around 4.9 million people. However, according to research, the ventilator which caught fire was brand new and was installed just a month ago. Russia’s Ural machine-building plant made it.
St Petersburg has documented above 8,000 cases of Covid-19 to date. However, in Moscow, 10,000 cases are recorded each day.
Investigators of the State are tiring to figure out whether it was manufacturing negligence or a fault in the hospital’s fire precautions.
After the United States, Russia is recorded as the second, which has the highest number of confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide. Hence, the capital, Moscow, has reported beyond 5,000 new cases in the last 24 hours.
