Ukraine hospitals could run out of oxygen in 24 hours, WHO warns

A woman holds an oxygen mask over the face of a baby with Covid-19 in a children's hospital in Kiev. — A woman holds an oxygen mask over the face of a baby with COVID-19 in a children's hospital in Kyiv.

(Image credit: Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty images.)

Ukrainian hospitals could run out of medical oxygen within the next 24 hours, endangering the lives of thousands of critically ill patients, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine means that trucks carrying the life-saving medical resource are unable to transport it from plants to hospitals across the country, which has seen its active cases of COVID-19 increasing over the past month, according to a U.N. report.

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Ukraine needs 25% more oxygen supplies than it did before Russia's Feb. 24 invasion. The WHO has said it is looking for ways to increase supplies to the besieged country, including setting up a safe transport route through neighboring Poland. The supplies are essential to Ukraine's 1,700 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, alongside others with critical illnesses stemming from complications from pregnancy, childbirth, chronic conditions, sepsis and injuries, the U.N. agency has said.

The omicron variant COVID-19 cases have risen by 555% in Ukraine between Jan. 15 and Feb. 25, according to a report released on Feb 26. by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The surge in COVID infections, driven in part by the mass exodus of Ukrainian citizens, comes alongside at least 240 civilian casualties (including 64 dead and 176 injured) since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the U.N. said. The U.N. agency emphasizes, however, that the actual number of civilian casualties is far higher.

Ben Turner is a U.K. based writer and editor at Live Science. He covers physics and astronomy, tech and climate change. He graduated from University College London with a degree in particle physics before training as a journalist. When he's not writing, Ben enjoys reading literature, playing the guitar and embarrassing himself with chess.