The Indian Air Force (IAF) has transported four cryogenic oxygen containers from Singapore amid an acute oxygen shortage in India. The nation has been witnessing a sharp rise in Covid-19 infections, leading to a shortage of oxygen supply across several states.

"One C-17 of Indian Air Force got airborne at 2 am on April 24 from Hindan Air Base for Changi International Airport, Singapore. The aircraft arrived in Singapore at 7:45 am," the Indian Air Force said.

"After loading 4 containers of cryogenic oxygen tanks, it will leave for Singapore and will then land at Panagarh air base. These containers will then be offloaded by this evening," the Air Force said.

The Singapore embassy in India tweeted, "We stand with India in its fight against Covid-19. Through a bilateral and multi-agency effort, an @IAF_MCC transport plane picked up 4 cryogenic oxygen containers at Changi Airport in Singapore this morning."

The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has hit the country the hardest, leaving the nation gasping for life-saving oxygen.

On Friday, the Defence Ministry informed that 23 mobile oxygen generation plants are being airlifted from Germany. These will be deployed in Armed Forces Medical Sciences (AFMS) hospitals catering to COVID patients. These oxygen-generating plants are expected within a week, the ministry said.

Amid the record rise in COVID-19 cases, leaders from around the world have expressed their support to India.

Earlier today, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison expressed their solidarity with the people of India.

India on Saturday recorded 3,46,786 new COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day spike since the pandemic broke out last year. According to the official data issued by the government, the country recorded 2,624 new deaths due to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

So far, 1,66,10,481 COVID-19 cases have been reported in India while 1,89,544 people have succumbed to the viral infection.

Currently, there are 25,52,940 active cases of COVID-19 in the country.