U.S., Britain rush supplies to virus-stricken India
27 April, 2021
The U.S. and Britain rushed ventilators and vaccine materials to India Monday as the united states battles a catastrophic, record-breaking coronavirus wave that has overwhelmed hospitals and set crematoriums working at full capacity.
A surge in recent days has seen patients' families taking to social media to beg for oxygen supplies and spots of available hospital beds, and has forced the capital New Delhi to increase a week-long lockdown.
The country of 1 1.3 billion is among the most latest hotspot of a pandemic which has killed a lot more than three million people, even while richer countries do something towards normality with quickening inoculation programs.
Irfan Salmani told AFP he previously been going from hospital to hospital around Delhi for the past three days, searching for oxygen for his sister.
"I've never seen anything so terrible," he said. "I've been trying non-stop."
"What can I do?... I've just been facing rejection after rejection."
France, Germany and Canada also have pledged support to India, which has driven increases in global case numbers in recent days, recording 352,991 new infections and 2,812 deaths on Monday -- its highest tolls because the start of pandemic.
The first of nine airline container-loads of supplies from the united kingdom, including ventilators and oxygen concentrators, was set to reach in India early Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, pledging the united kingdom would do "all it could" to help.
The White House said it was making vaccine-production material, therapeutics, tests, ventilators and protective equipment immediately available to India.
But it didn't mention whether it would send any of the 30 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses it currently holds in surplus, sparking accusations of hoarding.
India's Hindu-nationalist government is facing growing criticism for allowing mass gatherings in the united states in recent weeks, with millions attending religious festivals and thronging political rallies.
The glitzy Indian Premier League can be under pressure, with a leading newspaper suspending coverage and slamming the IPL's decision to keep playing cricket as "commercialism gone crass".
The league suffered further blows Monday as Australians Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson became the most recent players to leave after star India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin withdrew to support his family during the pandemic.
On Sunday, Twitter confirmed it withheld a large number of tweets -- including from opposition lawmakers -- critical of the government's handling crisis after a legal demand from New Delhi.
Source: japantoday.com
TAG(s):