Biden promises supplies to help India beat COVID-19

Recalling that India had “sent assist with america as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic” through the first global wave last year, US President Joe Biden on Monday pledged that his country was “determined to help India in its time of need”, even while 318 Philips Oxygen Concentrators were transported from New York to New Delhi on Monday on an Air India flight.

Meanwhile, in a “summit telephone talk” with Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga on Monday that lasted 25 minutes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked him “for providing assist with India for combating the pandemic”. New Delhi also said the two leaders highlighted the necessity for close India-Japan cooperation to overcome the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, “such as for example by working together to create resilient, diversified and dependable supply chains, ensuring reliable supply of critical materials and technologies”.

“Prime Minister Suga wished for India’s early recovery from the current spread of Covid-19 under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, and both leaders concurred that they might work in closer cooperation towards containing the pandemic,” japan foreign ministry said.

US defence secretary Lloyd J. Austin, meanwhile, said he previously directed his department “to use every resource at our disposal, in your authority, to aid US inter-agency efforts to supply India’s frontline healthcare personnel with the materials they want”.

This came hours after US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told India’s NSA Ajit Doval on Sunday evening that the US has “identified resources of specific raw material urgently necessary for Indian manufacture of the Covishield vaccine that will immediately be made designed for India”, and that the US in addition has “identified supplies of therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators, and personal protective equipment (PPE) that may immediately be made designed for India”. The US is also pursuing options to supply oxygen generation and other supplies on an urgent basis, Mr Sullivan said, adding the US was “working night and day to deploy available resources and supplies”.

US President Joe Biden tweeted: “Just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, we are determined to greatly help India in its time of need.”

US vice-president Kamala Harris tweeted: “The US is working closely with the Indian government to rapidly deploy additional support and supplies during an alarming Covid-19 outbreak. As we offer assistance, we pray for the people of India -- including its courageous healthcare workers.”