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NORTH AmERIcAN Newsline MAY 28, 2021 | The Indian Eye 32

covid-19 crisis in india

Senator Warner meets community amid surge in India

Our Bureau rus infections, according to Warner’s office.

Ashburn Shortly after Warner and Cornyn’s in-
tervention, the U.S. delivered $100 million
.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) worth of supplies to India including oxygen
joined more than dozen members equipment and vaccine-manufacturing sup-
Uof the Indian-American communi- plies to support frontline workers. U.S. as-
ty Friday in Ashburn to discuss the ongoing sistance has reached more than 9.7 million
health crisis in India. Indian’s, according to the White House.
India is one of three countries to have India and the U.S. have worked together
more than 290,000 deaths attributed to for over 70 years to combat outbreaks, ad-
COVID-19, according to John Hopkins vance health security and fight tuberculosis
University of Medicine. The United States since 1988.
has the most, with more than 580,000 lives However, since the delivery, residents
lost to the virus. “Whether it be India, and business owners at Friday’s roundtable
whether it be Jordan, whether it be Jamai- said they are concerned about how those
ca, there’s a number of countries that are resources are being allocated.
having none with the level of human suf- Vinai K. Thummalapally, the first Indi-
fering that’s going on right now than In- U.S. Census. an-American U.S. Ambassador, said one
dia,” Warner said. Last month, Warner and his colleague, idea to address the matter is for United
Warner listened to concerns and ideas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the co-chairs States Agency for International Develop-
during a roundtable at The Signature in of the Senate India Caucus, urged Presi- ment (USAID) to appoint coordinator.
Ashburn with community and business dent Joe Biden (D) in a letter to increase USAID’s mission is focused on saving lives,
leaders from Loudoun County. The Asian efforts to support hard-hit countries such reducing poverty, strengthening democrat-
community makes up 20.4% of the coun- as India with medical supplies and surplus ic governance and helping people progress
ty population as of 2019, according to the vaccinations due to the surge in coronavi- beyond assistance across the globe.

congressman tom suozzi calls on biden to assist

with vaccine distribution in india

Call from Suozzi comes as India continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic

Our Bureau tients alike are in urgent need of assistance.”

WASHINGTON, DC Suozzi welcomes the Biden Adminis-
tration and State Department’s continued
ongressman Tom Suozzi (D-Long efforts to provide relief to India –including
Island, Queens) called on the Biden the delivery of over $100 million worth of
C Administration and the U.S. State medical supplies and raw materials required
Department to assist the Indian Government to manufacture vaccines – but believes the
in its COVID-19 vaccine distribution efforts. U.S. must continue to assist India as they
“Thank you for your leadership and struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic.
for the Administration’s work to restore Currently, the U.S. is the world leader in
America’s place in the global community. vaccine distribution efforts and production.
In the spirit of that effort, I urge the feder- Less than 10% of the Indian popula-
al government to assist the Indian govern- tion has received at least one dose of the
ment in its COVID-19 vaccine distribution COVID-19 vaccine.
effort as soon as it has the capacity to do With the on-going COVID crisis in In-
so,” wrote Suozzi. dia, the country reported 4,205 COVID-19
Suozzi continued, “In recent weeks, In- deaths on Wednesday.
dia has become a global epicenter of the Suozzi, like the Biden Administration
COVID-19 pandemic. This week was one and leading health scientists, believes in-
of the deadliest of the pandemic in India, deaths due to COVID-19 to more than creasing the vaccination rate worldwide is
which recorded 4,205 deaths on Wednes- 250,000. India’s healthcare system is under the best tool to combat the on-going global
day, carrying the total number of confirmed tremendous pressure and doctors and pa- pandemic.

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