Mexico City (AFP)

In a street in western Mexico City, dozens of people buy oxygen for their loved ones with Covid-19.

They wait up to five hours for a recharge which sometimes only lasts an hour.

Resigned, they advance to the door of a private company, where an employee collects the bottles to write the names of the customers.

"Alert, alert, we are in a Covid emergency!", Repeats, in front of the queue, a recording through the sound system of a police patrol.

Eduardo Martinez, a 33-year-old biochemist, knows it well, he who has been in the queue for an hour to recharge the oxygen cylinder intended for his mother, who tested positive for the coronavirus last Tuesday.

He had anticipated the increase in contaminations due to the end of the year holidays - for which his family was careful, he assures - and bought a canister as a precaution.

"Fortunately, I didn't buy anything in December," he told AFP.

He was able to pay the 3,500 pesos ($ 175) that the PCR test cost for his 55-year-old mother, who stays at home.

Mexico City, which has nine million inhabitants, has been on high alert since December 18, with a hospital occupancy rate of 90% due to the rapid progression of infections.

With nearly 43,000 cases of contamination and 26,152 deaths, non-essential activities have been suspended.

Mexico (128 million inhabitants) deplores 146,174 dead and has recorded 1.7 million infections.

- + 700% -

Despite the precautions, the virus was lurking in his neighborhood, where two of his neighbors died recently, says Martinez.

"People are very reckless, foolish, where we live, they don't use masks."

A few rows away from him is Ileana Ruiz, in search of oxygen for her uncle, so that he survives his transfer from a public hospital - where he does not feel well followed - to a private clinic.

They will do the transport by private vehicle, because "there are no ambulances", says this 23-year-old medical student, who has not been able to attend her online courses for four days because she is spending her time in search of drugs and, now, oxygen.

"We calculated a duration of one hour, which he needs for the transfer," says the one who has to pay 200 pesos ($ 10) to refill the smaller canister.

With the resurgence of the epidemic, "the demand for oxygen has increased by 700% in one month," Jesus Montaño, who works for the Federal Consumer Defender, told AFP.

At the same time, fraud and speculation have exploded on social networks, where "exorbitant prices" are practiced.

Although the government has set up free oxygen dispensers, "the big problem is the lack of tanks. There is no way to take it," he adds.

© 2021 AFP