At least 22 patients died as a result of an interruption of oxygen supply triggered by a leaked container at a hospital in Nashik, Maharashtra. According to Rajesh Tope, Maharashtra's health minister, the incident occurred after a gas tank leaked in Nashik, one of India's worst-affected regions.

"Patients on respirators at the Nashik hospital have died," Tope said on television.

"The leak was detected at the container that provided oxygen to these patients. The disruption of supply may be attributed to the deaths of the hospital patients."

On Tuesday, hospitals in Delhi, the capital, said they have just enough oxygen for the next eight to 24 hours, with some private organizations only having enough even for four or five. According to the health minister of the neighboring state of Haryana, the scenario was so terrible that some people attempted to rob an oxygen truck, prompting authorities to upgrade security. "I've requested police cover for all tankers from now," Anil Vij said.

Images on television showing people with depleted oxygen bottles are crowding refilling stations as they rushed to rescue ailing families in hospitals.

"We were completely cut off from deliveries yesterday, and by the end of the day, we got some, and it's supporting us today," said Charu Sachdeva, an employee at the capital's state-run Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Centre.

One individual in Lucknow, India's northernmost district said a hospital had informed him to arrange for oxygen supply for his uncle or take him away to another medical facility since it had run out of oxygen supplies.