The United States is sending supplies worth more than $100 million to India to assist it in combating a surge of COVID-19 cases, according to a statement released by the White House on Wednesday.
The supplies, which will arrive on Thursday and continue into next week, will include 1,000 oxygen cylinders, 15 million N95 masks, and 1 million rapid diagnostic tests, according to the statement.
White House officials confirmed that the US has also redirected its own order of AstraZeneca manufacturing supplies to India, allowing it to produce more than 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
“Just as India sent aid to the United States when our hospitals were overburdened early in the pandemic, the United States is determined to help India in its time of need,” the White House said in a fact sheet outlining the aid.
On Wednesday, India’s death toll from the coronavirus pandemic surpassed 200,000, exacerbated by a lack of hospital beds and medical oxygen. The last 24 hours saw 360,960 new cases, the world’s highest single-day total, bringing India’s total number of infections to nearly 18 million.