U.S. Ships Masks, Oxygen to India as Country Struggles With COVID Crisis

The Biden administration has sent two military planes full of supplies to India, as the country struggles with a deadly COVID-19 crisis.

"More will come," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Friday. "We will continue to communicate with India about their needs."

The two cargo planes that left the United States overnight carried more than 400 oxygen cylinders, oximeters to test oxygen levels, about 184,000 rapid COVID tests and nearly 85,000 N-95 masks, Psaki said.

The United States also is working to connect private industries, nongovernmental entities and private citizens with resources to help address India's needs, she said.

India recorded 386,555 cases Thursday—a record for daily cases, according to Johns Hopkins University's tracker. At least 208,330 COVID deaths have been recorded in India—21,410 of those in the past week—but public health officials have said the number is likely much higher. Morgues have been overwhelmed and some areas have resorted to mass cremations and round-the-clock burials.

Hospitals and vaccination sites also have exceeded capacity, and the country faces a mass oxygen shortage. The response has prompted mass protests in the world's second-largest country.

Biden told reporters Tuesday that he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke "at length" about India's surge and that the United States would be sending remdesivir and other aid, including the mechanical components needed to produce a vaccine.

"I think we'll be in a position to be able to share vaccines, as well as know-how, with other countries who are in real need," Biden said. "That's the hope and expectation, and I might add, when we were in a bind at the very beginning, India helped us."

The United States has started to see a drop in coronavirus cases and deaths, as more people get vaccinated. According to the White House COVID task force's most recent tally, 100 million people have been fully vaccinated. Another 100 million are awaiting second shots of the two-dose process.

More than 575,000 people in the United States have died of COVID. There were 4,695 deaths in the past week—down from a record weekly high of 23,785 in early January.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its mask guidance this week to recommend that people who are fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks outdoors in most cases and can socialize maskless in small groups with other people who are also fully vaccinated.

"We've had three updated guidances of what you can do if you're fully vaccinated, and we look forward to more as more and more people get vaccinated," CDC director Rochelle Walensky told reporters Friday.