To help fight against the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the US is going to send two massive military aircraft carrying medical equipment to India. US secretary of State, Lloyd Austin tweeted a video of an aircraft taxiing on a runway at the base of the US air force before taking off the long-distance flight to India.
Days after US president Joe Biden promised to extend his support to India, the US announced that it was going to send more than $100 million in supplies to India. The first shipment includes 960,000 rapid test kits and a hundred thousand N-95 masks for frontline health care workers, the US Agency For International Development said.
A statement released from the White House said that just as India sent its assistance to the United States when their hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, now in the time of need, the United States is determined to help India.
The white house also said that it was sending more than 20 million vaccine doses to India. The news agency AFP reported that the supplies are being diverted from the US orders to produce AstraZeneca Vaccine, which has not been approved for use in the US.
As India battles with one of the world’s most catastrophic surges of Covid-19 since the pandemic began, this has overwhelmed hospitals and pushed crematoriums past their capacity.
Social media has now filled with stories where people are desperately trying to find oxygen or a hospital bed for their friends and family. Oxygen support is needed by more and more people now as they complain of breathlessness. But due to the sudden jump in demand across cities and towns, the supply of oxygen has become severely limited.
The Centre is now running “Oxygen Express” trains which are carrying oxygen tankers to the states that are worst hit by Covid.
