ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Business is booming at a plant filling oxygen tanks. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, sales of oxygen tanks at the Erbil factory have skyrocketed. The health ministry warned that they could run into a shortage of medical supplies if the Kurdistan Region continues to see upwards of 200 new cases every day. 

Lawzha Company sells to hospitals, but the biggest new interest comes from people wanting an oxygen supply in their homes. "In the past, only 20 to 25 ordinary people would come to buy oxygen from us in a month. But since the outbreak of the coronavirus, 20 to 25 come to us on a daily basis," said Ahmed Haji Mohammed who own Lawzha Company in Erbil. 

COVID-19 is a highly contagious virus that, among other symptoms, can cause extreme respiratory distress. People with severe cases of the virus are struggling to breathe, dependent on ventilators. 

Mohammed Abu Bakir, 45, said last week he had trouble breathing for a brief time and it scared him into buying an oxygen tank to keep at home. "Even though I have not tested positive, but I took precautions and wanted to use oxygen on my own at home," he told Rudaw English.

Lawzha said they can provide enough oxygen for all of the Kurdistan Region, if their plant gets enough electricity. 

"Our company produces 100 oxygen cylinders on a daily basis," Mohammed explained. "If the government provides 24-hour electricity for us, we can fill at least 2,000 cylinders with oxygen on a daily basis.”

The Kurdistan Region’s national electrical grid cannot keep up with demand and private generators are needed to keep the power on for several hours every day. 

With coronavirus remains uncontrolled, locals have taken matters into their hands placing oxygen cylinders in their households due to the less space and chance to get oxygen at the overwhelmed hospitals of the Region.

"Most of the locals buy the 10-litre oxygen tanks from us worth 5,000 dinars ($4.20) while the hospitals buy 40-litre oxygen tanks,” said Mohammed. A 10-litre tank provides a six-hour supply of oxygen. 

The Kurdistan Region’s health system has adequate oxygen supplies at the moment, with the help of private companies like Lawzha, but could run into problems if the numbers of infections continue to increase, according to Mohammed Khoshnaw, spokesperson for the health ministry. 

"At the moment, we do not have any shortage of oxygen,” Khoshnaw told Rudaw English. “We will undoubtedly face oxygen shortages if the number of the cases continues to rise.”

“The biggest problem is new infections have largely outnumbered recoveries in recent days,” he said. 

Cases of COVID-19 have risen dramatically in the Kurdistan Region since late May, three months after the first cases were confirmed, and new cases are far outpacing recoveries. In the past week alone, 2,154 new cases were reported, but just 774 people recovered. 

As of Saturday, a total of 9,201 people have been infected with the virus, 5,595 of those remain active, and 312 people have died. 

On July 18, the health ministry expects to receive four tons of medical aid from the World Health Organization (WHO), which will "largely ease some of the burden,” said Khoshnaw. "The medical aid includes a large number of oxygen concentrators for our patients.” 

Oxygen concentrators produce an oxygen-enriched gas stream. 

Additional reporting by Zhelwan Z. Wali