Washington: Describing the surge of COVID-19 infections and deaths in India as “nothing short of heartbreaking”, US Vice President Kamala Harris said on Friday that India’s welfare is critically important to the United States.
Pledging that the Joe Biden administration is determined to help India in its hour of need, Ms Harris said that the entire government machinery has been galvanised to help the country in this hour of crisis.
India is struggling with a second wave of the pandemic with more than 4,00,000 daily new coronavirus cases being reported in the past few days, and hospitals are reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and beds.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, when our hospital beds were stretched, India sent assistance. And today, we are determined to help India in its hour of need,” Ms Harris said in her remarks at the State Department’s Diaspora outreach event on US COVID Relief for India.
“We do this as friends of India, as members of the Asian Quad, and as part of the global community. I believe that if we continue to work together – across nations and sectors – we will all get through this,” she said.
The Biden-Harris Administration has announced $100 million assistance to India to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. In about a week’s time, as many as six plane loads of COVID-19 assistance have landed in India. The White House and the State Department are coordinating with the corporate sector, which has mounted an unprecedented private sector relief.
Indian-Americans have been raising millions of dollars and have been sending life-saving health care equipment and medicines to the country. Sewa International USA has raised more than $10 million, American Association of Physicians of Indian-Origin or AAPI have raised $3.5 million and Indiaspora more than $2 million, to name some of them.
Ms Harris recognised the contribution of Indian-Americans on the issue. Ms Harris, 56, is the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American to be elected US Vice President.