India set a record Wednesday with more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours as hospitals struggle with dwindling oxygen stockpiles.
The country has reported another 3.5 million infections this month to date as a new mutant variant of the virus leaves medical facilities ill equipped to face an influx of patients.
"The situation was under control until a few weeks back," India Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. "Then this second corona wave came like a storm."
Modi has been accused of slackening health precautions in recent weeks, allowing large political rallies and religious celebrations to take place when India reached a multimonth low in infections earlier this year.
"We are once again fighting a big fight," he said in an evening TV speech, but failed to address growing resource concerns that might hamper the country's fighting ability.
New Delhi's chief minister, who went into isolation Tuesday, informed the federal government that some hospitals in the city of 19 million people had "just a few hours of oxygen" remaining Wednesday.
"The government, states and private sectors are trying to ensure every needy patient gets oxygen," Modi said without elaborating.
New Delhi is in a six-day lockdown to halt virus transmissions while the state of Maharashtra, which is home to financial capital Mumbai, plans introducing a strict lockdown.
More than 130 million vaccinations have been administered to date in India and from May 1 all adults will be able to get their first shot.
India has recorded roughly 15 million COVID infections and 180,000 deaths so far - second only to the U.S. by fatalities but far behind most countries on a per capita basis.
Hong Kong has banned visitors from India, Pakistan and the Philippines for two weeks starting Tuesday because of fears of a mutant virus strain.
