COVID-19: US appeals to India to lift export ban on sale of pharmaceutical ingredients

As the situation in the US worsens by the hour due to the surging number of Coronavirus cases in the country, the US administration is reportedly in talks with India ask the latter to lift off the restriction on the export of pharmaceutical ingredients that will be required by the US to fill in its massive requirements owing to the Coronavirus Pandemic.

India, the world’s leading pharmaceutical ingredients supplier, had imposed a ban on the export of pharmaceutical ingredients to ensure it has sufficient supply required to handle the crisis due to the pandemic within the country.  

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The US - Worst-hit country

The current crisis situation in the US has given way to fear of a possible drug supply shortage during the Covid-19 outbreak. The total number of positive cases in the country has risen to nearly 1,60,000, while the number of deaths is nearing 3,000 making it the worst-hit country in the world. New York, the financial capital of the USA, has witnessed a massive surge in the number of COVID-19 cases. New York alone has reported over 66,000 cases of Covid-19 positive patients and the death toll of New York alone has surpassed the 1,000-figure mark. The NYC region reached an alarming number and now accounts for roughly 5 per cent of the world’s confirmed cases, making it an epicentre of the pandemic and increasing the pressure on officials to take more drastic measures as the hospitals in the state have been overwhelmed by the increasing numbers. California has said it could be facing the next major wave of the disease.

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The deadly coronavirus outbreak that originated in China last year has spread across 197 countries across the world. Presently, there are over 782,000 confirmed global cases of the COVID-19 infection which has led to the death of over 37,600 people. As there is no vaccine or specific antiviral medicine to treat COVID-19, countries have been grappling with all possible mechanisms to contain its spread. So far, China, Italy, Iran, Spain and the US have witnessed the most number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.