My Message

India on Verge of Humanitarian Disaster with Second Covid Surge

Local Leaders Look to Help India in Covid Crisis:
https://www.wral.com/local-leaders-look-to-help-india-through-covid-crisis/19646090/

Covid 19 Crisis Impacts Morrisville Community
https://www.cbs17.com/news/local-news/wake-county-news/covid-19-crisis-in-india-impacts-morrisville-community/

NC’s Indian Community Concerned with Covid Surge
https://abc11.com/health/ncs-indian-american-community-concerned-with-covid-19-surge-/10574969/

India reports 262,000 deaths and 24 million cases. 4000 Indian Citizens are dying daily (150 per hour), and last week, the government reported 4 million cases in one day. This situation is affecting many Indian American Families in Morrisville, Cary and throughout the state. On May 13th, I am hosting a Town Hall with Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi on the US Response to the India Covid Crisis.

The situation is particularly dire in the capital New Delhi, which is under lockdown until May 3. The city is facing severe oxygen shortages. Delhi does not produce its own oxygen and relies on resources supplied by the central government, according to Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Several Delhi hospitals tweeted SOS messages over the weekend appealing for oxygen supplies. On Saturday, at least 20 critically ill patients died after oxygen supply was delayed at one Delhi hospital.

In a tweet Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his administration will set up 551 oxygen generation plants “in every district to ensure adequate oxygen availability.”

The central government has come under fierce criticism within the country for its handling of the outbreak, which has seen overwhelmed hospitals and residents post pleas on social media for more supplies from state and federal officials. Many have turned to the black market in a desperate attempt to save their loved ones.

United States Aid to India for Second Covid Surge

The United States is delivering supplies worth more than $100 million in the coming days to provide urgent relief to our partners in India. In addition, U.S. state governments, private companies, non-government organizations, and thousands of Americans from across the country have mobilized to deliver vital oxygen, related equipment, and essential supplies for Indian hospitals to support frontline health care workers and the people of India most affected during the current outbreak. U.S. Government assistance flights will start arriving in India on Thursday, April 29 and will continue into next week.

Just as India sent assistance to the United States when our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, the United States is determined to help India in its time of need.

United States to provide India Emergency COVID-19 Assistance

Immediate U.S. Emergency COVID-19 Assistance The United States is providing:

• Oxygen Support: An initial delivery of 1,100 cylinders will remain in India and can be repeatedly refilled at local supply centers, with more planeloads to come. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also locally procured oxygen cylinders and will deliver them to support hospital systems in coordination with the Government of India.
• Oxygen Concentrators: 1700 oxygen concentrators to obtain oxygen from ambient air, these mobile units provide options for flexible patient treatment.
• Oxygen Generation Units (PSA Systems): Multiple large-scale units to support up to 20 patients each, and additional mobile units will provide an ability to target specific shortages. A team of U.S. experts will support these units, working hand-in-hand on the ground with Indian medical personnel.
• Personal Protective Equipment: 15 million N95 masks to protect both patients and Indian health care personnel.
• Vaccine-Manufacturing Supplies: The U.S. has re-directed its own order of Astra Zeneca manufacturing supplies to India. This will allow India to make over 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
• Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs): 1 million rapid diagnostic tests – the same type used by the White House — to provide reliable results in less than 15 minutes to help identify and prevent community spread.
• Therapeutics: The first tranche of a planned 20,000 treatment courses of the antiviral drug emdesivir to help treat hospitalized patients.
• Public Health Assistance: U.S. CDC experts will work hand-in- hand with India’s experts in the following areas: laboratory, surveillance and epidemiology, bioinformatics for genomic sequencing and modeling, infection prevention and control, vaccine rollout, and risk communication.

U.S. Support for India from the Outset of the Pandemic

The United States and India have closely worked together to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. COVID-19 assistance has reached more than 9.7 million Indians across more than 20 states and union territories, providing life-saving treatments, disseminating public health messages to local communities; strengthening case-finding and surveillance; and mobilizing innovative financing mechanisms to bolster emergency preparedness:

• Partnered with more than 1,000 Indian healthcare facilities to strengthen preparedness, including training of over 14,000 people on infection prevention and control.
• Helped keep more than 213,000 frontline workers safe — including risk mitigation training for doctors, nurses, midwives, community volunteers, sanitation workers, and others who are actively responding to COVID-19 in India.
• Launched joint public messaging with UNICEF on COVID prevention that has reached more than 84 million people.
• Provided 200 state-of-the-art ventilators to 29 healthcare facilities in 15 states to care for critically-ill COVID-19 patients.

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