International support pours in for India to fight Covid 19, Prime Minister chairs a high-level review meeting

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephone conversation  with  Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States of America on Monday. President Biden conveyed solidarity with India and affirmed that the United States was determined to support India’s efforts by quickly deploying resources such as therapeutics, ventilators and identifying sources of raw materials to be made available for the manufacture of Covishield vaccines. The US President tweeted on Monday, “Today, I spoke with Prime Minister @narendramodi  and pledged America’s full support to provide emergency assistance and resources in the fight against COVID-19. India was there for us, and we will be there for them.”

Several countries have offered medical supplies, liquid oxygen and other aid to India as the country grapples with a record-breaking surge of COVID-19 cases. The EU activated its Civil Protection Mechanism to offer urgent oxygen and medical supplies while the UK is sending surplus medical equipment. Singapore and Saudi Arabia have provided oxygen supplies while Russia is planning to fly special planes with a wide range of COVID-related assistance.  The US announced additional support after President Biden and PM Modi spoke on Monday — one day after the White House announced that the US will provide immediate medical aid. A high level Inter-Ministerial group has established procedure for immediate clearance these materials. The material would be dispatched promptly to the recipient institutions in various parts of the country in coordination with various govt agencies.

Indian Railways is continuing its journey of delivering liquid medical oxygen to various parts of the country. So far, 450 metric tonnes have been delivered to Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh & Delhi in 6 Oxygen Express through 26 tankers covering more than 10,000 km (in empty and loaded conditions). Delhi has received its first Oxygen Express carrying more than 70 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen today early morning.

PM Narendra Modi chaired a meeting with top officials to review the Covid-19 relation situation in the country. He got an overview on the situation in the country relating to oxygen availability, medicines, health infrastructure, etc. The production of LMO in the country has increased from 5700 MT/day  to the present 8922 MT. The domestic production of LMO is expected to cross 9250 MT/day by the end of April 2021. PM instructed the officials to work closely with state governments to start the PSA Oxygen plants at the earliest.

The first batch of Sputnik V vaccine is expected to arrive from Russia by mid May as per Dr Reddy’s lab. GiLead has also promised to make available additional Remdevisir doses to India. WHO is sending additional staff and medical supplies to India to help fight the pandemic. A number of other close allies like Australia, France, Kuwait, Russia as well as MNCs like Google and Microsoft are mobilising resources to assist India in this hour of need.