India sets daily COVID record: Blinken pledges U.S. help — photos

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India has set a new daily COVID-19 cases record for a fourth straight day, with the country’s health ministry reporting 349,691 more infections Sunday.

The big picture: Hospitals are overwhelmed with coronavirus patients and there’s a widespread oxygen shortage. Secretary of State Tony Blinken tweeted late Saturday the U.S. was “working closely” with India’s government. “We will rapidly deploy additional support to the people of India and India’s health care heroes,” he added.

What’s more: The U.S. will be helping provide India with resources and supplies to help fight the surge in cases, National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne confirmed in a statement Sunday.

  • PPE equipment, rapid diagnostic test kits, therapeutics, and ventilators will be among the supplies made available to India.
  • The U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) will fund the manufacturing capability expansion of India’s vaccine manufacturer, so that more vaccine doses can be produced.
  • The U.S. will be deploying a team of public health advisors from the CDC and USAID to “work in close collaboration with the U.S. Embassy, India’s health ministries, and India’s Epidemic Intelligence Service staff.”
A COVID-19 patient being moved to another hospital amid a shortage in beds and medical oxygen due to the pandemic in Jaipur, Rajasthan, on April 24. Photo: Vishal Bhatnagar/NurPhoto via Getty Images
A relative visiting on on April 24 the grave of a patient who died of COVID-19 in New Delhi. Photo: Sanjeev Verma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
A coronavirus awareness campaign during the lockdown at Badi Chaupar, in Jaipur, Rajasthan, on April 24. Photo: Vishal Bhatnagar/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The scene in Lower Bazar in Shimla, India, during a weekend regional lockdown on April 24 . Photo: Deepak Sansta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
A BMC healthcare worker collecting COVID swab samples of passengers at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai April 24. Photo: Satish Bate/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
Tourists at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip garden in Srinagar, in the Indian-administered region of Jammu And Kashmir on April 24. Local officials have implemented a night -time curfew for this weekend. Photo: Nasir Kachroo/NurPhoto via Getty Images

This post has been updated with information from National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne.



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