The U.K. Government is sending more than 600 medical devices – including ventilators and oxygen concentrators – to India as the country is suffering from a surge in Covid cases and a shortage of medical oxygen. BBC News has the story.
More than 600 pieces of medical equipment are being sent to India as the country faces a record surge of coronavirus cases, the U.K. Government has said.
The assistance package includes 495 oxygen concentrators – which extract oxygen from the air to give to patients – as well as ventilators.
India is seeing thousands of deaths a day amid oxygen shortages…
The first shipment of equipment will leave the U.K. on Sunday and is due to arrive in the Indian capital, New Delhi, in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
In total, the U.K. will send nine airline containers of supplies this week, including 495 oxygen concentrators, 120 non-invasive ventilators and 20 manual ventilators.
Local media reports say oxygen concentrators are in high demand in India, as they can meet some patients’ need for extra oxygen without adding to the strain on hospital oxygen supplies.
For the fourth day in a row, India has reported a record number of new infections, with almost 350,000 cases in the last 24-hour period and 2,767 deaths.
Many hospitals in Delhi are refusing to accept new patients because they cannot guarantee oxygen supplies. Oxygen tanks are being transported across the country, sometimes with a police escort, and flown in from nearby countries to meet demand.
The Prime Minister tweeted: “We stand side by side with India in the shared fight against Covid.”
The BBC News report is worth reading in full.
Stop Press: London mayoral candidate Laurence Fox has suggested that Britain’s surplus Covid vaccine supplies should be sent to India “now that 99% [of people in the U.K.] are protected”.
