KNB News Desk
Srinagar 29 April (KNB): As India battles a new wave of COVID-19 cases, United States (U.S) is reflecting solidarity as decision has been taken by Biden-Harris administration of delivering emergency Covid-19 supplies worth more than $100 million in the coming days to India.
U.S on Thursday deployed the first of several emergency COVID-19 relief shipments to India. Arriving in New Delhi on the world’s largest military aircraft, the shipment includes 440 oxygen cylinders and regulators. These flights will continue into next week.
In addition, the first flight will include 960,000 Rapid Diagnostic Tests to identify infections early to help prevent the community spread of COVID-19, and 100,000 N95 masks to protect India’s frontline healthcare workers.
As per officials, private companies, non-government organizations, and thousands of Americans from across the country have mobilized to deliver vital oxygen, related equipment, and essential supplies for Indian hospitals to support frontline healthcare workers.
“Just as India sent assistance to the United States when our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, the United States is determined to help India in its time of need,” officials said.
For decades, USAID has worked in close partnership with India to address many of the country’s most pressing health challenges, including maternal and child mortality, polio, HIV, and tuberculosis.
As per officials, U.S is providing:
- Oxygen Support: An initial delivery of 1,100 cylinders will remain in India and can be repeatedly refilled at local supply centers, with more planeloads to come. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also locally procured oxygen cylinders and will deliver them to support hospital systems in coordination with the Government of India.
- Oxygen Concentrators: 1700 oxygen concentrators to obtain oxygen from ambient air, these mobile units provide options for flexible patient treatment.
- Oxygen Generation Units (PSA Systems): Multiple large-scale units to support up to 20 patients each, and additional mobile units will provide an ability to target specific shortages. A team of U.S. experts will support these units, working hand-in-hand on the ground with Indian medical personnel.
- Personal Protective Equipment: 15 million N95 masks to protect both patients and Indian health care personnel.
- Vaccine-Manufacturing Supplies: The U.S. has re-directed its own order of Astra Zeneca manufacturing supplies to India. This will allow India to make over 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
- Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs): 1 million rapid diagnostic tests – the same type used by the White House — to provide reliable results in less than 15 minutes to help identify and prevent community spread.
- Therapeutics: The first tranche of a planned 20,000 treatment courses of the antiviral drug Remdesivir to help treat hospitalized patients.
- Public Health Assistance:S. CDC experts will work hand-in- hand with India’s experts in the following areas: laboratory, surveillance and epidemiology, bioinformatics for genomic sequencing and modeling, infection prevention and control, vaccine rollout, and risk communication.
Furthermore, Officials said that the United States and India have closely worked together to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“U.S. COVID-19 assistance has reached more than 9.7 million Indians across more than 20 states and union territories, providing life-saving treatments, disseminating public health messages to local communities; strengthening case-finding and surveillance; and mobilizing innovative financing mechanisms to bolster emergency preparedness,” they added. (KNB)