We’re ready to provide medical assistance to India: China

Beijing, April 23: China said it has taken note of the grave situation of India with a shortage of medical supplies and added that it is ready to provide medical assistance to India as the country faces a severe second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

 

Responding to a query from Chinese state media on Thursday on the pandemic situation in India, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Beijing was ready to help.

 

"The Covid-19 epidemic is the common enemy of all mankind. The international community needs to unite as one to fight against the epidemic. The Chinese side notes that the epidemic situation in India is severe and there is a temporary shortage of epidemic prevention and medical supplies. We are ready to provide necessary support and assistance to India so that they can control the epidemic," Wang said.

 

 

India reported more than 3 lakh cases, the highest single-day tally recorded anywhere in the world since the pandemic started last year. India’s death toll from the disease rose 2,104 in the same time period.

 

According to the US-based Johns Hopkins University’s Covid-19 tracker, India’s tally of confirmed cases is now nearly 16 million, second only to America’s count of almost 32 million.

 

However, it is should not be immediately ascertained if Beijing has officially extended the offer of help to New Delhi. Last year, India was one of the countries to help Beijing with medical supplies during the time the outbreak from where the coronavirus started to affect and severe at the same time.

 

India had provided 15 tonnes of medical supplies comprising masks, gloves and emergency medical equipment at a cost of about Rs. 2.11 crore to China at that time.

 

 

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha in March last year, external affairs minister of state V Muraleedharan had said the medical supplies included 100,000 surgical masks, 500,000 pairs of surgical gloves, 4,000 N-95 masks, 75 infusion pumps, 30 enteral feeding pumps, and 21 defibrillators.

 

The supplies, flown to China in an India Air Force C-17 flight, were handed over to a Hubei charity federation in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the first epicentre of the pandemic where the virus had emerged in December 2019.

 

In February 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had written to President Xi Jinping, extending New Delhi’s assistance to fight the outbreak. Soon after, China’s ambassador to India Sun Weidong had appreciated the support and solidarity that India had extended to China in its fight against the coronavirus.

 

 

China had returned the favor in April, dispatching dozens of aircraft with Covid-related medical supplies when the first wave of the pandemic became severe in India. India-bound flights had taken off from Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xi’an, and Hong Kong, carrying 390 tonnes of medical supplies. However, the bilateral relation was strained due to the India-China border standoff in eastern Ladakh.