CEOs of 40 US companies launch immediate aid to India

A newly created global task force of CEOs of top American 40 companies on Wednesday announced an effort to provide massive Covid19 emergency relief material including 1000 ventilators and 25000 oxygen concentrators to India in its fight against the coronavirusIndia is struggling with a second wave of the pandemic with more than 300000 daily new coronavirus cases being reported in the past few days and hospitals are reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and bedsThe Global Task Force on Pandemic Response whose steering committee members include Julie Sweet CEO Accenture Andy Jassy CEO Amazon Tim Cook CEO Apple Brian Moynihan Chairman of the Board and CEO Bank of America Raj Subramaniam president FedEx and Arvind Krishna Chairman and CEO IBM also announced creation of Chief Human Resources Officer CHRO India Action Group to provide ideas and practical information to CHROs to help their people in IndiaAmong other members of the steering committee are Gail McGovern president and CEO American Red Cross Mike Parra CEO Americas DHL ExpressEstablished as a publicprivate partnership organised by the US Chamber of Commerce and supported by Business Roundtable the Global Task Force on Pandemic Response is working in close collaboration with US and Indian government officials to share information and coordinate effortsIt is working with the Chamberrsquos USIndia Business Council and the USIndia Strategic Partnership Forum to take three immediate actions to help address the Covid19 surge in India First sourcing shipping and delivering 1000 Puritan Bennett ventilators desperately needed by healthcare facilities across India Second delivering 25000 oxygen concentrators to India by the end of May with transportation support from FedEx And finally creating the Chief Human Resources Officer CHRO India Action Group to provide ideas and practical information to CHROs to help their people in IndiaBidenrsquos aims for vaccinationUS President Joe Biden has set a new vaccination goal to deliver at least one shot to 70 per cent of adult Americans by July 4 as he tackles the vexing problem of winning over the lsquodoubtersrsquo and those unmotivated to get inoculatedWTO mulling intellectual property waiversAmbassadors from World Trade Organisation countries on Wednesday resumed discussions on trade rules protecting the technological knowhow behind Covid19 vaccines amid growing pressure on rich nations to relax them as a way to help poorer countries fight the pandemicThe WTOrsquos General Council was taking up a temporary waiver for intellectual property protections that South Africa and India first proposed in October The idea has gained support in the developing world and among some progressive lawmakers in the WestAuthors of the proposal which has faced resistance from many countries with influential pharmaceutical and biotech industries have been revising it in hopes of making it more palatableNo consensus mdash which is required under WTO rules was expected to emerge from the ambassadorsrsquo twoday meeting on Wednesday and ThursdayAustralian sues Morrison govtA 73yearold Australian who is stranded in India since March last year has filed a lawsuit before a Sydney court against the federal government for banning flights from India and threatening to prosecute those attempting to enter the country with the possibility of a jail term and a penalty saying the move is lsquounconstitutional The lawyers of Gary Newman who is stranded in Bengaluru since March last year have argued in the federal court in Sydney that the ban was lsquounconstitutionalrsquo549003No of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours153738171Total no of cases worldwide3217281Total no of deaths worldwideThis 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