Como dizer "O povo está morrendo asfixiado" em inglês

Sometimes a plain translation doesn't convey the drama (in other language, I mean), hence BBC translated that video by the female medical worker states "There is no oxygen and lots of people are dying, " (so it is implied).
Granted, there is another statement on the same (BBC) news story, in which a scientist comments that some hospitals in Manaus had "run out of oxygen" with some centres becoming "a type of suffocation chamber" for patients.