INDIA Hit Hard by Coronavirus second wave which is set to kill 5,700 people a Day: Already Swamped hospitals turn away patients , victims suffocate to death on wards amid oxygen shortage

Medics fear Covid-19 infections in India could climb to 500,000 per day before the virus-stricken nation reaches the peak of its second wave - as those who delay oxygen deliveries to New Delhi were today threatened with the death penalty. Another 2,624 deaths and 346,786 cases were reported in India on Saturday, although limited testing means this is likely to significantly underestimate the total. The infection total again marked the highest one-day tally of any nation since the start of the pandemic - the third time in as many days India has broken this record. However, leading virologist Shahid Jameel today warned that India has still yet to hit the peak of its second wave, with studies suggesting it may record 500,000 cases per day in the first week of May. 

 India's current fatality rate per 100,000 cases is 1.14 per cent, meaning if the nation reaches this anticipated peak there is the potential for 5,700 deaths per day. Overwhelmed hospitals have continued to beg for supplies today as Covid-19 infections soared overnight in a 'tsunami' of disease, with medics warning: 'Every hospital is running out [of oxygen]. We are running out'. At least 20 coronavirus patients died overnight at New Delhi's Jaipur Golden Hospital on Friday as the 'oxygen pressure was low,' the hospital's medical superintendent Dr Baluja said. He added: 'Our supply was delayed by seven-eight hours on Friday night and the stock we received last night is only 40 per cent of the required supply.' Elsewhere, at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, some 25 Covid-19 patients died on Thursday with reports suggesting low oxygen supplies were again the cause of the fatalities.

 As overburdened hospitals were forced to turn away patients, Indian Air Force planes and designated Oxygen Express trains were deployed in a bid to speed up the supply of this crucial medical gas. Harrowing images from a makeshift crematorium in New Delhi today illustrated the extent of the pandemic in India, with Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford describing the situation as the 'tip of an iceberg' to a much larger crisis. 

 The crematorium was set up outside a hospital in the capital by desperate people who 'cannot cope' with the number of dead - and were forced to say goodbye to their loved ones in mass services at ad hoc sites. As she spoke, men pulled firewood into the site, with Ms Crawford explaining the dead had been arriving at the crematorium 'virtually every second' amid what she described as a 'slightly chaotic' vaccine roll-out. It comes as the High Court in New Delhi, which is home to some 30million people, today met to impose a strict ruling that if anyone is found to be restricting oxygen supplies to hospitals they 'will be hanged'. Delhi Chief Arvind Kejriwal had complained that desperately needed supplies were being obstructed on state borders before entering New Delhi, crucially delaying delivery to beleaguered hospitals. Several medics have appealed for help on social media in recent days as the shortage worsened, with Max Healthcare and Fortis Hospital at one point both warning they could run out of supplies within an hour. Max, which runs hospitals in northern and western India, said on Twitter: 'We regret to inform that we are suspending any new patient admissions in all our hospitals in Delhi until oxygen supplies stabilise.' Delhi needs at least 480 metric tonnes of oxygen to affectively treat its Covid-19 patients, according to the Hindustan Times.

 On Friday, the capital received only 297 metric tonnes of the medical gas. Dr Jameel, who is the director of the Trivedi School of Biosciences at Ashoka University, today told Radio 4 that India desperately needs to contain the sudden surge by 'treating as many people as possible at home.' He added the government needs to do 'everything possible' to speed up the supply of oxygen and medicine to those in need, revealing the harrowing plight of families desperately searching for supplies. People have been begging for oxygen or medical help on social media, and crowds have gathered outside hospitals, with some dying on stretchers as they wait. On Wednesday, 22 patients died at a hospital in Maharashtra when their oxygen supply ran out after a leak in the tank. Yesterday 13 Covid patients died when a fire broke out at a Mumbai hospital. 

 'My family has gone through a harrowing experience in the past week, we had a cousin into hospital who passed away two days back and every 24 hours there was a threat of cut-off of oxygen,' Dr Jameel said. 'In the end he didn't make it, but the mental torture of relatives searching for oxygen was just unbearable. Unfortunately the situation is very bad, we let down our guard and that's why we're in this situation.' India is recording one in three of all worldwide Covid-19 cases, despite its Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying in February that the nation was 'inspiring the world' with its Covid fight.