US praises India's 'generous' efforts to help friends & partners in fight against COVID

Alice G Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs under the US State Department, has hailed India's efforts to support other countries in the fight against COVID-19. She said India's "generous efforts to assist friends and partners is commendable" and these actions emphasize that "we're" all in this fight against COVID-19 together. 

'We are all in this fight together'

India on Wednesday sent supplies to Mauritius and Seychelles, the island nations on the Indian Ocean, which have traditional and diasporic links with India and are also important for India from the strategic viewpoint.

India has also delivered half a million tablets of Hydroxychloroquine and 12 tons of lifesaving medicines to Mauritius on April 15. The Indian Embassy in Mauritius had tweeted about it on April 15.

India's Hydroxychloroquine diplomacy

According to a report, the list of countries India has sent or will be sending HCQ to includes the US, Mauritius, Seychelles, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Zambia, the Dominican Republic, Madagascar, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali Congo, Egypt, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Ecuador, Jamaica, Syria, Ukraine, Chad, Zimbabwe, France, Jordan, Kenya, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Uruguay, Columbia, Algeria Bahamas, and the United Kingdom.

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On the other hand, India has reached out to purchase COVID-19 testing kits from various nations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar have been making calls to their counterparts across the world. Indian missions overseas also have been tasked with sourcing supplies for India's fight against the Coronavirus.

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With 957 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours and 36 deaths, India's total count of Coronavirus cases has surged to 14,792, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. The total cases are inclusive of 2,014 cured and discharged patients, one migrated and 488 deaths. At present, there are 12,289 active COVID-19 cases in the country.

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(With agency inputs)