Virar hospital fire

India was badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1][2] Overcrowding and a shortage of oxygen were among the frequent problems caused.^[1][2] On 21 April 2021, 24 COVID patients in a hospital in Nashik, Maharashtra, died after the oxygen supply to their ventilators was interrupted.^[1][2] In 2021, fatal fires at hospitals in India also occurred in Mumbai and Bharuch.

In the early hours of 23 April 2021, a fire broke out in the intensive care unit of Vijay Vallabh hospital in Virar, a city which is to the north of Mumbai in the Indian state Maharashtra.^[1][2][3] There were 17 patients in the ward at the time, 13 of whom were killed.^[1][2][3]