A worker carries a much-needed oxygen cylinder at a hospital in Jammu on Monday. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

NEW DELHI－With the coronavirus' relentless march across India, hope has been in short supply－especially after infections topped 20 million on Tuesday. But tech-savvy volunteers are confronting the country's health crisis head on with apps to crowdsource vital medical supplies as hospitals buckle under the strain.

With the government struggling, the young volunteers are also using social media to direct resources to people in need.

A youth-led organization called UNCUT has built online databases packed with information about medical resources available across the country.

It is a 24/7 operation, with the teenagers constantly on their phones as they verify the availability of supplies, update information in real-time and field calls from frantic relatives.

The country has witnessed scenes of people dying outside overwhelmed hospitals and funeral pyres lighting up the night sky.

"Some of us do midnight to morning shifts, because the calls don't stop at 3 am," said volunteer Swadha Prasad, 17.

Prasad and her friends are sorely needed in India, where the number of infections has almost doubled in the past three months, while deaths officially have passed 220,000.

The official average of newly confirmed cases per day has soared from over 65,000 on April 1 to about 370,000, and deaths per day have gone from over 300 to more than 3,000. Many suspect the actual case and death counts are much higher

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The official average of newly confirmed cases per day has soared from over 65,000 on April 1 to about 370,000, and deaths per day have gone from over 300 to more than 3,000. Many suspect the actual case and death counts are much higher.

On Tuesday, the health ministry reported 357,229 new COVID-19 cases in the latest 24-hour period, with 3,449 deaths.

For Prasad and her fellow volunteers, responding to the crisis is a tiring affair, the Mumbai student said. "But if I can help save a life, there is no part of me that is going to say no," she said.

And lives have been saved, Prasad said, pointing to a case in which the team was able to source oxygen for a young COVID-19 patient in the middle of the night.

Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University's School of Public Health in the United States, said he is concerned that Indian policymakers he has been in contact with believe things will improve in the next few days.

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"I've been... trying to say to them, 'If everything goes very well, things will be horrible for the next several weeks. And it may be much longer,'" he said.

Compounding problem, India's daily vaccine shots have fallen sharply from an all-time high reached early last month as domestic companies struggle to boost supplies and imports are limited.

India on Saturday received 150,000 doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine and the government said "millions of doses" more will come in.

Agencies Via Xinhua