US racing aid to India; Singapore flies medical supplies there

New Delhi

INDIA set a new global record of the most number of Covid-19 infections in a day, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged all citizens to be vaccinated and exercise caution, saying the "storm" of infections had shaken the country.

The United States was racing to send aid to India, saying it was deeply concerned by the massive surge in coronavirus cases in India.

Singapore state investor Temasek said on Sunday it is partnering Air India and Amazon India News to airlift oxygen concentrators, ventilator machines and other essential medical supplies to India.

According to a Facebook post by Temasek, the first batch will be supplied to hospitals and Covid treatment centres across India, after it arrived in Mumbai on Sunday evening.

Further, Temask had been working with aviation ground-handler Sats and the High Commission of India in Singapore to help transport four cryogenic oxygen cylinders donated by Tata Group and flown to West Bengal by the Indian Air Force on Saturday.

Temasek said in the post that it is pleased to do "our small part to help people in India" as the country combats this wave of the pandemic. "No one is safe till everyone is safe."

India's number of cases surged by 349,691 in the past 24 hours, the fourth straight day of record peaks, and hospitals in Delhi and across the country are turning away patients after running out of medical oxygen and beds.

Washington is under increasing pressure to do more to help India, the world's largest democracy and a strategic ally in President Joe Biden's efforts to counter China, as it grapples with a record-setting surge in coronavirus infections.

On Friday, China reiterated its offer of support to India saying it was ready to assist in keeping with India's needs. In a sign that the government is not closing the door entirely on help from China, official sources noted that the tenor of the remarks by the Chinese foreign ministry had been positive.

The South China Morning Post reported that India government sources have not ruled out the possibility of contacting private Chinese companies for medical supplies including oxygen.

Mr Modi's government has faced criticism that it let its guard down, allowed big religious and political gatherings to take place when India's cases plummeted to below 10,000 a day and did not plan on building up the healthcare systems.

Hospitals and doctors have put out urgent notices that they were unable to cope with the rush of patients.

"Every day, it (is) the same situation, we are left with two hours of oxygen, we only get assurances from the authorities," one doctor said on television.

Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal extended a lockdown in the capital that was due to end on Monday for a week to try and stem the transmission of the virus which is killing one person every four minutes.

India's total tally of infections stands at 16.96 million and deaths 192,311 after 2,767 more died overnight, health ministry data showed.

In the last month alone, daily cases have gone up eight times and deaths by 10 times. Health experts say the death count is probably far higher.

The country of 1.3 billion people is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, warned in an op-ed published on Saturday in The Washington Post.

"Our hearts go out to the Indian people in the midst of the horrific Covid-19 outbreak," US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on twitter.

"We are working closely with our partners in the Indian government, and we will rapidly deploy additional support to the people of India and India's health care heroes."

The US has faced criticism in India for its export controls on raw materials for vaccines put in place via the Defense Production Act and an associated export embargo in February. REUTERS