NEW DELHI: A local administrator in western India says 22 patients have died in a hospital when their oxygen supply was interrupted by leakage in a supply tank.
Suraj Mandhar, the district collector, said the oxygen supply has since been resumed to other patients.
Fire officer Sanjay Bairagi said the leakage was plugged by the fire service within 15 minutes, but there was supply disruption in the Zakir Hussain Hospital in Nashik, a city in Maharashtra state that is the worst-hit by the latest surge in coronavirus cases in the country.
Television images showed white fumes spreading in the hospital area, causing panic.
More than 170 patients were on oxygen in the hospital, according to local media.
NEW RECORD: India set yet another record of the coronavirus pandemic as it reported more than 295,000 cases during the past 24 hours, the second highest daily case count ever recorded by any country. Even the day’s death toll crossed 2,000 for the first time since the outbreak of pandemic.
According to the health ministry data, 2,023 people died in 24 hours as hospitals run perilously low on oxygen amid rising demand for beds. Total deaths in India reached 182,553.
Coronavirus infections also increased by 295,041, the data showed on Wednesday.
