ISLAMABAD: Six patients at Peshawar’s Khyber Hospital in northwestern Pakistan died Saturday night after they were unable to receive critical oxygen on time, hospital authorities told local media on Sunday.

Pakistan has been in the grip of a second wave of the coronavirus since November, with more than 3,000 daily infections recorded for four consecutive days. 58 people died in the last 24 hours, according to the National Command and Operation Centre which is the main federal body dealing with the pandemic.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health ministry has ordered an inquiry into the incident.

Hospital officials have said that the usual oxygen supply did not arrive from Rawalpindi on time, leading to the death of the critically ill patients who could not receive the high pressure oxygen necessary for them to survive. Only one of the six patients was in the intensive care unit when they died.

The country’s northwest has been the worst hit in terms of coronavirus positivity rates, with Abbotabad’s ratio at almost 17.6 percent.

Pakistan reported a shortage of oxygen cylinders in July when rates of infection peaked at over 6,000 people a day.