Covid-19: US announces $41mn aid for India

Lawmakers from both parties called for more aid to India during a debate in the House of Representatives on a bipartisan resolution.

The United States has announced $41 million in additional assistance to India for its fight against Covid-19 as lawmakers cutting across party lines called for more.

A health worker collects swab samples for Covid-19 test of passengers arriving from outstation trains at Dadar station in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday. (HT PHOTO)

The additional assistance will support access to Covid-19 testing, pandemic-related mental health services, timely referrals to medical services, and access to healthcare in remote areas, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said.

The agency said the US assistance to India is now up to $200 million with an additional $500 million more in emergency supplies and training for more than 214,000 frontline health workers in infection prevention and control, benefitting more than 42 million Indians.

President Joe Biden has promised to help India that supported the US when it was confronting a devastating spike in cases last year. India had lifted an export ban to supply anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine in response to a direct appeal from then president Donald Trump.

Lawmakers from both parties called for more aid to India during a debate in the House of Representatives on a bipartisan resolution introduced by the co-chairs of the India Caucus Democrat Brad Sherman and Republican Steve Chabot, “Recognising the devastating impact of the pandemic in India and expressing the sense of the House of Representatives with respect to Covid assistance to India.”

Gregory Meeks, the Democrat who chairs the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, started the debate with a passionate appeal for help to India. “We’re all saddened by the devastating impact of Covid-19 and what it already has had on the Indian people.”

Meeks said that while the Biden administration’s response has been timely and the number of cases has started to come down in India, “we cannot let our guard down, we must do more to prepare for a potential new wave of infections. It’s important to recognise that none of us will be safe until all of us are safe”.

Republican Young Kim reminded lawmakers of the help extended by India last year and it is “only fitting” that the United States has quickly delivered much-needed supplies such as PPE, rapid testing kits, and other drugs to India when the latter is facing devastating surge. “This action from the US, the world’s oldest democracy to India, the world’s largest democracy is only fitting,” she said.