The US has promised additional support to Covid-hit India, Britain is sending oxygen concentrators and ventilators, and the European Union has activated its Civil Protection Mechanism to help the Indian medical system fight the pandemic challenge that has overwhelmed it.
The Narendra Modi government maintained a studied silence through the day to the US offer of support and did not comment on the subsequent assurances of support that came in later in the evening.
The external affairs ministry did not confirm or deny that India had requested the EU to activate its Civil Protection Mechanism, as claimed by the European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic.
According to the website of the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations: “When the scale of an emergency overwhelms the response capabilities of a country, it can request assistance via the Mechanism.”
Lenarcic tweeted: “Upon request for assistance by #India, we have activated the #EU Civil Protection Mechanism. The EU will do its utmost to mobilise assistance to support people of India. Our #ERCC is already coordinating EU MS that are ready to provide urgently needed #oxygen & medicine rapidly.”
A request to the EU to activate its Civil Protection Mechanism would be an admission by the government that India is overwhelmed by the situation.
Earlier, under attack at home and here for turning a blind eye to the pandemic situation in India, the senior leadership of the Biden administration for the first time during this wave of Covid in India publicly took note and assured rapid additional support.
“Our hearts go out to the Indian people in the midst of the horrific Covid-19 outbreak. 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,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken tweeted on Saturday.
This was followed up by a separate tweet from US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.
Sullivan wrote: “The US is deeply concerned by the severe Covid outbreak in India. We are working around the clock to deploy more supplies and support to our friends and partners in India as they bravely battle this pandemic. More very soon.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a statement: “The fight against the pandemic is our common fight. Germany stands in solidarity with India and is urgently preparing a mission of support.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson too pledged support. A consignment of ventilators and oxygen concentrators is expected to reach India by Tuesday.
“Vital medical equipment, including hundreds of oxygen concentrators and ventilators, is now on its way from the UK to India to support efforts to prevent the tragic loss of life from this terrible virus,” Johnson said.
The offers of help come at a time more countries, including Bangladesh, have begun shuttering down on travel from India.
