MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia will deliver emergency aid to coronavirus-hit India, President Vladimir Putin told Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a phone call Wednesday, the Kremlin said.
India has become the global epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, recording 360,000 new infections — a world record — and more than 3,000 deaths on Wednesday.
“Vladimir Putin expressed words of support to Narendra Modi in this difficult period in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus infection and informed him about the decision to provide India with emergency humanitarian aid,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
It added that the Russian deliveries will include “20 units of equipment for the production of oxygen, 75 artificial lung ventilation devices, 150 medical monitors and 200,000 packages of medicines”.
The Kremlin said Modi “warmly thanked the President of Russia for the assistance provided, which is largely of a high-tech nature and is in great demand in the country”.
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti cited the trade and industry ministry as saying that the 200,000 medicine packages would be favipiravir, an antiviral medication.
The news agency also cited the emergencies ministry as saying that two transport planes would carry the “more than 22 tonnes (48,500 pounds) of medical equipment” from Russia to India.
© Agence France-Presse
