US flights with COVID-19 aid to India delayed: Dept of Defense
May 04, 2021
Washington DC [US], May 4 : The United States Department of Defense has said that the final two flights of COVID-19 aid salted for India have been delayed and will reach at least until Wednesday. US Transportation Command on Monday said that the delay is due to maintenance issues.
This comes as India registered a slight dip in COVID-19 cases as it registered 3,68,147 new coronavirus infections and 3,417 related deaths in the last 24 hours, informed the union health ministry on Monday morning.
On Sunday, a flight from America carrying 1.25 lakh vials of an anti-viral drug Remdesivir landed in India.
"4th flight from USA arrives carrying 1.25 lakh vials of Remdesivir. Welcome this support from the United States," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted.
On Saturday night, a flight from the US, carrying 1,000 oxygen cylinders, regulators and other medical equipment landed in India.
Last week, the US deployed its first two planes carrying the initial emergency relief supplies including oxygen cylinders, regulators, and pulse oximeters generously donated by California, rapid diagnostic tests and N95 masks, according to the release.
Moreover, the White House had also announced that the United States will be delivering medical supplies worth more than USD 100 million in the coming days to India to provide urgent relief as the country battles a new wave of COVID-19 cases, said the White House.
Under the immediate emergency COVID-19 Assistance, Washington is providing 1700 oxygen concentrators, an initial delivery of 1,100 cylinders, multiple large-scale Oxygen Generation Units to support up to 20 patients each, to India.
The Biden administration has also redirected its own order of AstraZeneca manufacturing supplies to India, which will allow it to make over 20 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
