Covid-19 surge in India heartbreaking; US determined to help the country: Harris

Describing the surge of Covid19 infections and deaths in India as nothing short of heartbreakingrdquo Vice President Kamala Harris said on Friday that the countrys welfare is critically important to the United StatesPledging that the Biden administration is determined to help India in its hour of need Harris said that the entire government machinery has been galvanised to help the country in this hour of crisisIndia is struggling with a second wave of the pandemic with more than 400000 daily new coronavirus cases being reported in the past few days and hospitals are reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and bedsAt 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 needrdquo Harris said in her remarks at the State Departmentrsquos Diaspora outreach event on US Covid19 Relief for IndiaWe 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 ndash across nations and sectors ndash we will all get through thisrdquo Harris saidThe BidenHarris Administration has announced USD 100 million assistance to India to deal with the Covid19 pandemic In about a weekrsquos time as many as six plane loads of Covid19 assistance have landed in India The entire administration has been galvanized to help India in this hour of crisis The White House and the State Department is coordinating with the corporate sector which has mounted an unprecedented private sector relief for any country everIndianAmericans have been raising millions of dollars and have been sending lifesaving health care equipment and medicines to India Sewa International USA has raised more than USD 10 million American Association of Physicians of IndianOrigin or AAPI have raised USD 35 million and Indiaspora more than USD2 million to name some of themIn her remarks Harris recognised the contribution of IndianAmericans on the issueFor years diaspora groups like Indiaspora and the American India Foundation have built bridges between the United States and India And this past year you have provided vital contributions to Covid19 relief efforts Thank you for your workrdquo said the vice presidentAs many of you know generations of my family come from India My mother was born and raised in India And I have family members who live in India today The welfare of India is critically important to the United Statesrdquo Harris saidThe surge of Covid19 infections and deaths in India is nothing short of heartbreaking To those of you who have lost loved ones I send my deepest condolences As soon as the dire nature of the situation became apparent our Administration took actionrdquo she said referring to the steps that the BidenHarris Administration has taken to help India in this hour of crisisOn April 26 President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to offer Americarsquos support By April 30 US military members and civilians were delivering relief on the ground she said referring to the wholeofgovernment approach that the administration has taken to help IndiaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever