"How to make oxygen at home" is one of India's most searched terms: Google

Google's annual recap of most searched words and terms has been released by the search engine's official social media accounts. Covid-19 related searches topped the list, with one of India's most searched terms being "How to make oxygen at home" according to the report.

"This year the world searched "how to heal" more than ever. Whether people are honoring a loved one or reuniting with family, they're finding ways to come back stronger than before," the Alphabet-owned company said.

The term reflects India's oxygen crisis which began to show in April of 2021 as the second wave of Covid-19 driven by the deadly Delta variant hit India, causing hospitalisation rates to skyrocket and oxygen supplies to dwindle in metros and hospitals across the country.

Government data released on May 8 revealed that more than 137,000 people across India were on oxygen support, more than three times the number of those needing oxygen in the first wave. India's health infrastructure began to crumble as the demand for hospital beds, oxygen and medicines soared. Social media was flooded with desperate pleas for help from both families and doctors as patients gasped for breath.

Most hospitals in India aren't equipped with independent plants that generate oxygen directly for patients, primarily because they require an uninterrupted power supply, which is a rarity in many states. Transporting liquid oxygen became a challenge as demand tripled and patients began dying as oxygen was not provided on time.

On a less serious note, other searches from India were still heavily dominated by the coronavirus with queries flooding in about how to register for vaccines and download vaccination certificates.

Another trending search in India was "how to make banana bread", a consequence of the pandemic and incessant lockdowns which drove people to stay in their houses. Culinary experimentation and cooking related content saw an explosion over lockdown periods in the last two years.