WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th April, 2021) US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has held phone talks with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval, pledging US support amid the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in India, National Security Council (NSC) Spokesperson Emily Horne said.
"Mr. Sullivan affirmed America's solidarity with India, the two countries with the greatest number of COVID-19 cases in the world," Horne said in a statement after the Sunday talks, adding that the US "has identified sources of specific raw material urgently required for Indian manufacture of the Covishield vaccine that will immediately be made available for India."
The United States will also provide supplies of therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and possibly oxygen generation and related supplies, to India, Horne said.
"The U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is funding a substantial expansion of manufacturing capability for BioE, the vaccine manufacturer in India, enabling BioE to ramp up to produce at least 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2022," the NSC spokesperson said.
A team of US experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will also be deployed to India and will work on facilitating the distribution of emergency resources in the country.
India has the second-largest number of confirmed coronavirus cases (over 16.9 million) out of all the countries in the world. It is surpassed only by the US, which has confirmed a total of more than 32 million cases. India's COVID-19 death toll is the fourth-largest, standing at more than 192,000.
