Daniel Smith takes charge as US Ambassador in India, pledges support amid COVID-19 crisis

Daniel B. Smith on May 3 was appointed as US Charge d'Affaires to India and said that he is ‘ready to work’. He was the former US acting Secretary of State and in 2018, he took the role as the director of the Foreign Service Institute. Prior to this, Smith has also been the Career Ambassador in the United States and in 2014, he was Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research. In 2010, the present US envoy to India was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Greece). Smith entered the US government in 2007 as Executive Secretary.

Further, Smith not only noted the "difficult times" that India is currently facing with the resurgence of COVID-19 and shortage of medical supplies but also pledged to help the nation as New Delhi assisted Washington. Smith's maiden remarks on Twitter after taking over the position came as United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) fifth emergency shipment in five days landed in India on May 4. The consignment carried more than 500 oxygen concentrators to help the hospitals overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients along with more than 100,000 N95 masks to ensure the safety of the frontline workers.

While US Ambassador in India pledged to enhance US-India cooperation amid COVID-19, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in person with Minister of External Affairs (MEA) Dr S Jaishankar in London on May 2 when both senior diplomats the cooperation over COVID-19 resources along with other issues such as Indo-Pacific landscape and the United Nations (UN) Security Council. Further, even the US Department of Defence has said the final two flights of essential supplies for India have been delayed and will arrive by May 5.

COVID-19 in India

The assistance reached the nation while as of May 3, India registered a record of 3,449 COVID-19 casualties pushing the total death toll to 2,22,408 with the total cases spiking to 2,02,82,833 as the nation logged in 3,57,229 fresh infections of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The data showed that the active cases mark has already surpassed 34,47,133 while recording a steady increase comprising over 17% of the total infections. Further, the national COVID-19 recovery rate has drooped to 1.10%, as per data.

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on May 3 expressed gratitude towards the “help and generosity” of BOC Ltd, the multinational and British-based industrial gas company that enabled Britain to deliver the “much needed” oxygen cylinders to India on May 2. While reiterating UK’s support during India’s crippling second wave, Johnson also said that “we stand by our friends in India.” As India continues to log in record-breaking daily cases and deaths, Indian Air Force aircraft airlifted 450 oxygen cylinders from Brize Norton in the United Kingdom and delivered them to Chennai airbase.

Image credits: @usaid_india/@USAmbIndia/Twitter