Need to know: India is in the midst of a Covid crisis. How is the world helping?

Medical supplies from the UK reached Indian soil this morning – a measure aimed at stemming the country’s devastating surge in coronavirus deaths.

India is now the global epicentre of the pandemic, and there have been urgent calls on countries across the globe to share their health resources. Here’s what you need to know.

Why is the situation in India garnering so much global attention?

India has recorded over a million new coronavirus cases in just three days. On Monday, daily cases reached a new global high for the fifth consecutive day, at over 350,000. The country’s overall coronavirus death toll is now approaching 200,000 – and many predict the true figure could be much higher still. 

The critical shortage of oxygen cylinders, intensive care beds and life-saving medicines is forcing hospitals to turn away Covid patients. 

Many families of the sick are desperately hunting on social media for oxygen, plasma and the Covid drug Remdesivir. The price of medical supplies on the black market has skyrocketed. There are reports of people paying 50,000 rupees (£480) to procure an oxygen cylinder that normally costs 6,000 rupees (£58). 

Makeshift pyres are being erected in crematoriums in Delhi as the city runs out of space to cremate its dead. On Monday, 380 deaths were recorded in the capital alone. 

Dr Zarir Udwadia, who works in two of Mumbai’s biggest private hospitals, says the situation in India is beyond crisis point. “This virus has a country of 1.4 billion firmly in a stranglehold and it’s really exposed our healthcare system and our failure of leadership,” he told the BBC. 

Dr Udwadia blames government complacency, pointing to the fact that less than 2 per cent of the country’s GDP is spent on healthcare. He also says that the country’s vaccine roll-out has been “glacially slow”, and, if things continue at the current rate, it would take the country over 600 days to reach anything even close to herd immunity. 

What is the UK doing to help?

On Sunday, the UK sent over 600 pieces of vital medical equipment, including ventilators and oxygen concentrator devices.

The shipment, which was unloaded at Dehli airport on Tuesday morning, will help hospitals manage oxygen supplies. 

However, The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin has said that the UK’s aid delivery is “a drop in the ocean.” The association, which represents 6000 UK doctors of Indian origin in the UK, has written to the Prime Minister, requesting further medical equipment be sent to India as a “matter of urgency”.  

What is the global response? 

Nations across the world – even some of India’s staunchest rivals – are mobilising to send the country desperately needed aid.

Shipments of oxygen tanks have already arrived from Thailand and Singapore. Germany has sent 23 mobile oxygen generation plants, which are expected to arrive this week, and President Macron has announced that France will send oxygen production units, as well as containers and respirators. Saudi Arabia is shipping 80 metric tons of liquid oxygen to India. 

Even Pakistan has made a gesture of solidarity with its arch-rival. Despite long-standing territorial disputes, the Pakistani government announced on Sunday that it will be sending relief support to India, including ventilators, digital X-ray machines and PPE. 

On Monday, President Biden made a phone call to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, promising that the US will be sending emergency assistance, including supplies of therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators and PPE. 

Perhaps even more significantly, the US has lifted an export ban on raw materials used in the vaccines, which will enable Indian vaccine manufacturers to ramp up production of AstraZeneca shots. Up until now, a shortage of raw materials has hindered India’s Serum Institute (SII) from doing so. 

President Biden has also announced that he will be sending up to 60 million doses of the AZ vaccine abroad in the coming weeks. In past months, the US has gained criticism for hoarding supplies of the Oxford jab – which they are yet to even approve – while other countries are desperately in need. It’s likely that a hefty chunk of this stockpile will now be redirected to India. 

A number of private companies are also responding to the humanitarian crisis. Google and Microsoft have pledged to support India with oxygen supplies, with Google confirming that it will provide £13m in funding. Both technology giants have chief executives who were born in India. 

How will the Indian crisis impact other countries? 

India’s devastating spike is already having a knock-on effect. The Covax scheme – a global vaccine-sharing initiative that represents a lifeline for many lower and middle income countries – is heavily reliant on exports from India. 

The SII, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, has partnered with AstraZeneca to produce vaccine doses in India. Last year, the SII agreed to supply an initial 200 million doses to Covax – 100 million each of the AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines.

However, the resurgence of the virus in India has led the government to drastically reduce the amount of vaccine it is permitting to be sent overseas. Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the SII, says it may not resume its exports until India’s current wave of infections begins to subside.

The SII was expected to deliver the first 100 million doses between February and May – but Indian government data shows that it has so far delivered only 30 million, which includes 10 million set aside for India itself under Covax. 

So far, Covax is estimated to have delivered about one fifth of the AstraZeneca doses it estimated it would have done by May. 

Indonesia and Brazil are among the countries which have received only about one in 10 of the doses they were expecting by May, while Bangladesh, Mexico, Myanmar and Pakistan have not received a single dose through the programme so far.