A shipment from Britain, including 100 ventilators and 95 oxygen concentrators, arrived in Delhi, said Reuters partner ANI, while France is sending oxygen generators able to provide 250 patients with a year's worth of the gas, its embassy said.

Ireland, Belgium, Romania, Luxembourg, Portugal and Sweden are also sending medical supplies to India through the European Union's Civil Protection Mechanism.

The first "Oxygen Express" train pulled into the capital, New Delhi, laden with about 70 tonnes of oxygen from an eastern state, but the crisis has not abated in the city of 20 million at the epicentre of the latest wave of infections.

With frustration mounting, relatives of a recently deceased Covid-19 patient attacked staff with knives at a hospital in the southeast of New Delhi, injuring at least one person, a hospital spokeswoman said.

A video posted on social media showed several people brawling with guards at the same hospital. Delhi High Court has advised local authorities to provide security at hospitals.

"For seven days, most of us haven't slept," said Dr K Preetham, an administrator at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, adding that the shortage of oxygen was a crucial worry.

"Because of the scarcity, we are forced to put two patients on one cylinder," he told Reuters.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday the situation in India is "beyond heartbreaking".

The global health body said it was working to deliver 4,000 oxygen concentrators to India.

"Many people rush to the hospital, even though home-based care monitoring...can be managed very safely," its spokesman, Tarik Jasarevic, said.

ASTRAZENECA VACCINE

India expects to secure the biggest chunk of the 60 million AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses that the United States will share globally, two Indian government sources told Reuters.

On Monday, the White House said 10 million doses could be cleared for export "in coming weeks" and the rest by June. It has not revealed potential beneficiaries, but the sources said India could gain the most.

"The wheels of diplomacy and appeals from WHO and top public health experts changed their thinking and now we have the US ready to send vaccines," said one of the sources, an aide to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Biden administration had agreed to ship doses to India after initial reluctance, he added.

"We are not sure how many we will receive. All I can say here is, our bowl is the largest and deepest."

Speaking to Reuters after a telephone conversation between Modi and President Joe Biden on vaccine raw materials, the second official said India was lobbying hard to get more than 35% of the AstraZeneca doses.

"Our prime minister has been assured that India will be given priority; the ratio of Indian share is being worked out," said the official, who is involved in the negotiations with the US authorities.

US drugmaker Merck & Co joined Gilead Sciences yesterday in lending support to India. Gilead said it would give India at least 450,000 vials of its antiviral drug remdesivir, while Merck said it was partnering with five Indian generic drugmakers to expand production and access to its experimental Covid-19 drug molnupiravir.

KUMBH CROWDS

The Indian government yesterday said it will dispatch 86.40 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines to different states in the next three days, seeking to scale up the inoculation drive.

Delhi is in lockdown, as are the southern state of Karnataka and the worst-hit state of Maharashtra, although some states had been set to lift curbs this week.

The patchwork curbs, complicated by local elections and mass gatherings such as the months-long Kumbh Mela, or pitcher festival, could drive breakouts elsewhere.

About 20,000 devout Hindus gathered on the banks of the Ganges river in the northern city of Haridwar on the last auspicious day of the festival for a bath they believe will wash away their sins.

Yesterday's turnout was low, however, said Sanjay Gunjyal, a police official handling the arrangements, compared to the hundreds of thousands in previous weeks, as the crisis prompted many monk groups to limit participants to "symbolic" numbers.

India has turned to its armed forces for help as new cases have topped 300,000 since April 21.

Even China, locked in a year-long military standoff with India on their disputed Himalayan border, said it was trying to get medical supplies to its neighbour.

India's Election Commission (EC) has banned all victory processions on or after counting of votes on May 2 in the assembly polls held in five states, including West Bengal, EC sources said yesterday.

Australia halted direct passenger flights from India until May 15, joining a growing list of nations taking steps to keep out more virulent variants.

The Philippines and Belgium also banned travellers coming from India, officials said yesterday. Spain will enforce a quarantine on all travellers from India, government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said.