Our missions, Ambassadors extremely adept in meeting COVID-19 requirements, says Shringla

As India is currently in the throes of a deadly second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Thursday stressed that all missions and Ambassadors are highly receptive and extremely adept to meet the immediate requirements.

Speaking at a special briefing, he said: "All of our missions and all of our Ambassadors are very receptive, extremely adept in meeting the requirements of the day. We have established contact directly with Gilead, Roche and all compes involved."

"We are working with governments, we are working private sectors, associations, chambers of commerce. We are giving the top-most priority in meeting our immediate requirements in terms of our healthcare facilities in combating the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic," he added.

The Foreign Secretary further explained that Gilead Sciences and the US State Department have given full assurances to meet the requirements in the best manner possible to combat the pandemic.

"All in all, international cooperation is a very vital part of meeting and bridging the immediate requirements that we have. Obviously, we are making every possible effort to step up our own capacities," he remarked.

Shringla mentioned that though India normally manufactures 67,000 doses of Remdesivir a day, the requirement today has reached between 2-3 lakh doses per day. Realising this, producers are ramping up their production.

He also said that India is in touch with other manufacturers of Remdesivir in Egypt and other parts of the world in efforts to source the anti-viral drug from those countries.

"Gilead has committed to offering 4.5 lakh doses of Remdesivir. They are being manufactured in Bangladesh, Uzbekistan and United Arab Emirates (UAE), we have contacted them. We are looking to have these stocks supplied in our country as soon as possible to bridge the short term gap," he said while responding to a query.

The worsening COVID-19 situation in India has seen a surge in the demand for medical oxygen and beds for the patients and many parts of the country are reporting an acute shortage of essential medical supplies. Several countries around the world have come forward to help India as it continues to struggle with rising coronavirus cases.

Meanwhile, India once again recorded the highest single-day surge of COVID-19 infections, registering 3,79,257 new cases along with 3,645 deaths and 2,69,507 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

Total active cases of the infection in India have now mounted to 30,84,814. The cumulative count of the COVID-19 has gone up to 1,83,76,524, while as many as 2,04,832 people have succumbed to the disease so far. A total of 1,50,86,878 people have recovered from the disease till now.

( With inputs from ANI )