Overwhelmed hospitals in India are begging for oxygen supplies as the country’s coronavirus infections soars again in a “tsunami” of disease, setting a world record for cases for the third consecutive day.

India’s rampaging second wave chalked up a grim milestone on Friday, when health officials revealed COVID-19 is claiming a fresh victim every four minutes in Delhi, where the capital’s underfunded and overloaded health system is buckling under the strain.

Max Healthcare, which runs a network of hospitals in north India, on Saturday tweeted that it had less than two hours of oxygen left, while Fortis Healthcare, another big chain, said it was suspending new admissions in Delhi.

“We are running on back-up, waiting for supplies since morning,” Fortis said.

SOS – Less than an hour's Oxygen supplies at Max Smart Hospital & Max Hospital Saket. Awaiting promised fresh supplies from INOX since 1 am. @drharshvardhan @msisodia @PMOIndia @ArvindKejriwal @PiyushGoyal @SatyendarJain over 700 patients admitted, need immediate assistance 🙏🏼

— Max Healthcare (@MaxHealthcare) April 23, 2021

The government has deployed military planes and trains to get oxygen to Delhi from the far corners of the country and overseas including Singapore.

With only a few minutes oxygen left, Max Healthcare later tweeted that an emergency convoy carrying oxygen supplies had reached the hospital in the nick of time thanks to military and police efforts to clear the roads.

The number of cases across the country of around 1.3 billion rose overnight by 346,786, the health ministry said, for a total of 16.6 million cases, including 189,544 deaths.

COVID-19 deaths have soared by 2,624 in the past 24 hours, the highest daily rate for the country so far. Crematoriums across Delhi said they were full up and asked grieving families to wait.

‘It’s a tsunami’

Hospitals in Delhi have gone to the city’s high court this week seeking it to order the state and federal governments to make emergency arrangements for medical supplies, mainly oxygen.

“It’s a tsunami. How are we trying to build capacity?” the Delhi high court asked the state and federal governments in response to this plea.

“You can’t leave me in the lurch,” a lawyer appearing for the Jaipur Golden hospital told the high court on Saturday, seeking its intervention.

The court asked the government to ensure supplies, as well to make security arrangements for medical centres amid people’s desperation.

India surpassed the US record of 297,430 single-day infections anywhere in the world on Thursday, making it the global epicentre of a pandemic that is waning in many other countries.

The federal government had declared it had beaten back the coronavirus in February.

Strict lockdowns urged

Health experts said India became complacent in the winter, when new cases were running about 10,000 a day and seemed to be under control. Authorities lifted restrictions, allowing for the resumption of big gatherings.

Others said it could also be a more dangerous variant of the virus coursing through India. It is the world’s second-most populous country and people live in close proximity, often six to a room.

Experts say the only way India can turn the tide is to ramp up vaccinations and impose strict lockdowns in the so-called red zones of high infection. It has opened up the immunisation program to all adults but faces a shortage.

India is using the AstraZeneca shot and homegrown Covaxin. It has also approved Russia’s Sputnik V and has urged Pfizer Moderna and Johnson and Johnson to provide it with vaccines.

-with AAP