US, UK and EU to send aid to India as it stuggles with coronavirus surge

U.S. racing to send aid to India as COVID-19 cases soar The United States is deeply concerned by a massive surge in coronavirus cases in India and will race additional support to the Indian government and health care workers, a White House spokeswoman said on Saturday. Reuters,Andrea Shalal Reuters

The United States is deeply concerned by a massive surge in coronavirus cases in India and will race additional support to the Indian government and health care workers, a White House spokeswoman said on Saturday.

"We are in active conversations at high levels and plan to quickly deploy additional support to the Government of India and Indian health care workers as they battle this latest severe outbreak. We will have more to share very soon," the spokeswoman told Reuters via email.

  UK to ship ventilators and other devices to COVID-ravaged India

  EU to send aid to India as it struggles with coronavirus

Washington is under increasing pressure to do more to help India, the world's largest democracy and a strategic ally in President Joe Biden's efforts to counter China, as it grapples with a record-setting surge in coronavirus infections.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Friday called on the Biden administration to release millions of stored doses of AstraZeneca (AZN.L) vaccine for shipment to India, Brazil and other hard hit countries.

The country of 1.3 billion people is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, warned in an op-ed published Saturday in the Washington Post.

He said some 2,000 people were dying daily, but most experts estimated that the true number was five to 10 times that level.

The Indian government has deployed military planes and trains to get urgently needed oxygen to Delhi from other parts of the country and foreign countries, including Singapore.

The number of cases across the country surged by a record daily rise of 349,691 on Sunday, for a total of 16.96 million cases, including 192,311 deaths, the health ministry said. ...

Jha called on Washington to send India oxygen, excess testing kits and high-quality personal protective equipment, including face masks, and medicines to treat COVID-19 patients, including sedatives and Remdesivir. ...

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