RACE TO GET AID TO INDIA
BRITAIN SENDS VENTILATORS AND OXYGEN DEVICES AS CASES SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL
BRITAIN is airlifting hundreds of lifesaving devices to India as it is engulfed by catastrophic levels of coronavirus cases and soaring deaths.
Hospitals in the world’s second most populated country – where 349,691 new cases and 2,767 deaths were reported yesterday – are running out of oxygen.
The crisis is so bad, some crematoriums have even run out of wood, forcing grieving families to burn loved ones’ bodies on mass outdoor pyres instead.
More than 600 ventilators and concentrators – which remove nitrogen from outdoor air to produce oxygen – will be shipped out in nine containers this week.
India’s official death toll has hit 192,000 with nearly 17million infections. But the true figure may be far higher with many cases undiagnosed or not recorded.
Yesterday’s figures broke the global record for the number of daily infections for the fourth day in a row. And some
experts fear the country’s peak may not be reached for another three weeks.
The UK is one of several nations to offer support. Others included the US, Singapore and India’s long-time rival Pakistan, which has pledged to send ventilators, oxygen supply kits and PPE.
The first UK shipment, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, left last night and should arrive in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab tweeted a photo of it adding: ‘No-one is safe until we are all safe.’
A spokesman said the health department ‘has worked closely with the NHS, suppliers and manufacturers, to identify reserve life-saving equipment’.
India’s prime minister Narendra Modi – under fire for his handling of the crisis and a slow jabs rollout, even though it is the world’s biggest vaccine maker – said: ‘Our spirits were up after successfully tackling the first wave but this storm has shaken the nation.’
Mamtesh Sharma, an official at a crematorium in the central city of Bhopal, said: ‘The virus is swallowing our city’s people like a monster.’
A new Covid variant first found in India is also being blamed. But scientists are hopeful current vaccines will be effective against it.
Prime minister Boris Johnson, who cancelled a trade mission to the country last week, said: ‘We stand side by side with India as a friend and partner during what is a deeply concerning time in the fight against Covid-19.’
But Labour says the offer does not go far enough, demanding the government sends India liquid oxygen, surplus therapeutic drugs and vaccines.
In a joint letter to their government counterparts, shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy and shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: ‘It is almost a year ago that the Indian government in response to the UK’s request for assistance, approved the export of 3million packets of paracetaamol to support our fight against this virus.
‘Now is not the moment to shy away from our international obligations but to step forward and show real leadership.’