As the number of infections and deaths in India continues to rise, the UK’s chief medical and science officers have met with their Indian counterparts to provide advice. The new help comes on top of a package of aid revealed just last week. In an announcement, UK’s Prime Minister stated that they will always be there for India in times of need.
“I am profoundly touched by the outpouring of support from the British people for the people of India, and I am grateful that the UK government has been willing to contribute to life-saving assistance,” he said.
According to No. 10, Mr. Johnson will hold a virtual meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, to discuss the deepening bilateral relations.
The state of COVID In India
Amid the surging spread of the virus, the situation in India continues to deteriorate. The Asian state has been the first nation to report more than 400,000 new cases in a single day since the pandemic started, with 3,689 deaths.
On Sunday morning, Mr. Modi met with his health minister to discuss the crisis. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab previously said that any request for vaccines from India would be “looked at very carefully” by the UK.
Five million Oxford-AstraZeneca doses, produced in India and bound for the UK, have been kept there pending safety tests. Prof Peter Openshaw, a government science advisor, indicated that allowing India to use these doses would be acceptable.
“The Indian relationship is very important to us,” Mr. Raab said on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show.
“We’d certainly like to cooperate very closely together.”
Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, said the UK “will and should do more” to assist India.
“We have long and deep relations with India,” she told Sky News, “which means we can step up and provide more equipment and support.”
As several hospitals in India run out of oxygen, British Indian families, companies, and charities have led appeals for emergency oxygen and donations. Last week, the government announced that 200 ventilators, 495 oxygen concentrators, and three oxygen generation units will be sent, with the first shipment expected to arrive on Tuesday.
According to the government, the UK’s chief medical advisor Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance spoke with colleagues in India to provide advice, insight, and expertise.
NHS England will also create a clinical advisory group led by its chief people officer Prerana Issar to support India’s Covid response, according to Downing Street. Moreover, rather than India, COVID continues to surge across the globe, impacting the economy and increasing the mortality rate. Although some countries have decided to resume daily activities, the situation is still wanting.
Nevertheless, the world is hoping that the containment measures imposed will help control the spread of the virus. Though India is still in a state of deterioration, there is hope that with the aid it’s currently receiving, there will be a turn of events.
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