Britain, US to send ventilators, medical items to struggling India

Agencies | London

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Britain and the United States are providing India with urgently needed ventilators and other medical equipment as it struggles to contain a swell of coronavirus infections that are at record-high levels.

The British Foreign Office said on Sunday that it would send more than 600 essential medical items to India - about 140 ventilators and nearly 500 oxygen containers from the country's surplus supplies, Deutsche press agency (dpa) reported.

The first shipment is expected to arrive early Tuesday.

"We stand side by side with India as a friend and partner during what is a deeply concerning time in the fight against Covid-19," said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the statement.

The US will be sending specific materials needed to manufacture Covid-19 vaccines as well as ventilators, test kits, PPE and therapeutics, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement after speaking with his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval.

"Just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, the United States is determined to help India in its time of need," he said in the statement.

Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin stressed that the US intend to assist rapidly.

"We are in this fight together," he said in a statement.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also offered help to India on Sunday.

"The fight against the pandemic is our common fight," she said, according to a government spokesman. "We are preparing a support mission as soon as possible," she added, expressing solidarity.

Germany, as well as several other countries, has restricted travel to India in recent days in light of the coronavirus situation there.

India registered 349,691 fresh coronavirus cases on Sunday, a new global record for infections on a single day, with the pandemic pushing the healthcare system to the brink and hospitals reporting deaths due to a shortage of medical oxygen.