Health

Spain sends medical supplies to Covid-blighted India

Madrid, May 6 (EFE).- Spain is sending medical equipment to India to help the Asian nation confront a huge surge in Covid-19 cases that has left its health system on the verge of collapse.

With an average of 380,000 new cases a day, India is the global epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic at the moment and has the third-highest caseload overall after the United States and Brazil.

Spanish health authorities and India’s ambassador to Spain, Sanjay Verma, arrived at Barajas international airport in Madrid Thursday to oversee the delivery of medical cargo, which will be flown out by a commercial flight with a stopover in Saudi Arabia on Friday.

The shipment contains 167 ventilators, 121 oxygen concentrators as well as filters and masks with a combined value of around $2.4 million.

Some 111 oxygen concentrators and 22 ventilators were acquired by the Spanish agency for international development (AECID) while 10 concentrators and 141 ventilators were donated by the Spanish Health Ministry.

The delivery should arrive in New Delhi on Monday, 10 May, and will be handed over to the Indian Red Cross for distribution. A second delivery from Spain is expected the following week.

The medical supplies are being coordinated through the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism.

Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and the Czech Republic have also sent materials via the mechanism.

A separate delivery containing 400 ventilators and 200 oxygen concentrators, funded by the Fundación Vicente Ferrer and the NGO Open Arms, is due to leave Barcelona on Friday. EFE

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