Latin America battles oxygen shortage
As a second, deadly wave of Covid-19 batters Latin America, images have emerged from country after country of desperate people lining up for days to buy oxygen to ease the suffering of infected loved ones fighting for breath.
As demand soars, prices have skyrocketed and families have had to scrape together their last cents to pay for supplies of the essential gas.
On Jan 14 alone, a researcher estimates more than 100 people died of asphyxiation at hospitals in Brazil's northern Amazonas state.
According to the World Health Organization, about one in five people with Covid-19 requires oxygen therapy to relieve respiratory distress.
With more 19 million recorded infections to date - likely an under-count, according to experts - this means almost four million people in Latin America have required oxygen therapy since the outbreak began.
Public health NGO PATH, which compiles a "Covid-19 Oxygen Needs Tracker", says more than half of hospitals in low- and middle-income countries - a category that includes most of Latin America - have an inconsistent supply of medical oxygen, or lack it entirely.
On a world map produced by PATH to show daily oxygen need, Brazil is marked with a large, bright orange dot indicating demand for some 327,000 cylinders, followed by Mexico with 89,700 cylinders, Colombia with 76,700, Argentina 56,200 and Peru 36,700.
According to AFP, on the Mexican black market, consumers say they are paying 45,000 pesos ($2,970) for a 9,500 liter tank and 32,000 pesos for a 6,000 liter tank - triple the normal price.
In impoverished Nicaragua, the price for a tank of oxygen could be as high as US$1,000 or US$1,500, according to Dr Roger Pasquier, president of the Nicaraguan Anesthesiology Association.
"This generated a higher mortality rate because not everyone had the means" to buy at this price, he told AFP.
