US dispatches third set of Coronavirus aid to India

Employees seen working at the Biontech/Pfizer’s Comirnaty vaccine facility in Reinbek. Germany will be sending aid to India, too. Pic/AFP

The United States on Friday dispatched the third set of its several emergency COVID-19 relief shipments to India. Arriving in New Delhi with COVID-19 relief supplies from the Dulles International Airport in the national capital region, the carrier has onboard oxygen cylinders, test kits and other supplies and will land in New Delhi after a brief haul in Munich, according to USAID.

On Friday, just before the flight's departure, the White House's National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, Kurt Campbell, Indian Ambassador to the United States Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Director for South Asia in White House's National Security Council Sumona Guha and Jeremy Konyndyk at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) were present at the Dulles airport for a brief press interaction.

President Joe Biden sought an update from Campbell on the swiftly evolving situation in India. "I was able to give a sense of what USAID is doing and what it hopes to accomplish, He [President Biden] said great, stay with it," Campbell said.

The senior White House official also highlighted the exchange between President Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the press gaggle calling it a "warm conversation".

The aircraft deployed from Dulles is the US federal government's third flight providing aid to India. The second flight was lifted off from California earlier in the day. And flights like these will continue into next week, airlifting urgent supplies.

‘No entry for Aus citizens from India'

Melbourne: Threatening a five-year jail term or hefty fine, the Australian government temporarily barred its citizens from entering the country if they happened to be in India within 14 days of their intended arrival. The decision, which will come into force from Monday, was based on the proportion of overseas travellers in quarantine in Australia, who have contracted the infection in India, according to health minister Greg Hunt.

Moderna okay for emergency use

Geneva: The WHO on Friday listed the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, making it the fifth vaccine to receive emergency validation from the WHO. The vaccine was already reviewed in January by WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE).

15,21,13,053
TOTAL Number OF CORONAVIRUS

CASES IN THE WORLD

31,96,373
Number OF DEATHS WORLDWIDE

12,94,20,614
Number OF RECOVERED PATIENTS

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