Share on Twitter Deaths of COVID-19 patients due to a lack of medical oxygen is a "criminal act and not less than a genocide," the Allahabad High Court in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh said on Tuesday. Local media reports a two-justice bench of the state's top court made the observation during a hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the coronavirus situation in Uttar Pradesh, one of India's worst-affected states during the devastating second wave. READ MORE “Death of Covid patients just for non supplying of oxygen to the hospitals is a criminal act and not less than a genocide by those who have been entrusted the task to ensure continuous procurement and supply chain of the liquid medical oxygen,” the court said citing social media videos showing people begging for oxygen tanks and others hoarding them.