India reported the highest daily surge in the world with over 3.49 lakh cases on Saturday.
The United States is "deeply concerned by the severe COVID outbreak in India," White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said this morning as he elaborated on the details of the efforts being made to offer help. India has been recording over 3 lakh Covid cases for the last three days as the country's caseload hits a grim world record.
"The U.S. is deeply concerned by the severe COVID outbreak in India. We are working around the clock to deploy more supplies and support to our friends and partners in India as they bravely battle this pandemic. More very soon," Jake Sullivan tweeted.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also tweeted, "Our hearts go out to Indian people in the midst of the horrific COVID outbreak. We're working closely with our partners in the Indian govt, and we'll rapidly deploy additional support to the people of India & India's healthcare heroes."
Top US health expert Anthony Fauci on Saturday said "it is a dire situation that we're trying to help in any way we can we just have to see how things go. And obviously, they need to get their people vaccinated because that's the only way we're going to turn that around."
The support comes amid growing calls to the US to send spare vaccines and to lift the embargo on raw materials for the vaccine.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday that the US was working closely with Indian officials at both the political and expert level to identify ways to help address the crisis.
State Department Deputy Spokesperson Jalina Porter also said the US continues to work closely with India to facilitate the movement of essential supplies and also address the bottlenecks of the supply chains.
Earlier, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was looking as what he could do to help India, describing India as a great partner and explaining that the help could include providing ventilators or therapeutics.
"We're looking at what we can do to help and support the people of India," Mr Johnson was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters.
French President Emmanuel Macron also extended his support to India to deal with the spike in cases.
"I want to send a message of solidarity to the Indian people, facing a resurgence of COVID-19 cases. France is with you in this struggle, which spares no-one. We stand ready to provide our support," Mr Macron said.
India reported the highest daily surge in the world with over 3.49 lakh Covid infections on Sunday, taking the country's caseload to 1.69 crore. A total of 2,767 people were reported dead, taking total coronavirus fatalities to 192,311.
Meanwhile, SOS messages are being sent out by top hospitals, patients and their family and friends amid shortage of medical oxygen and hospital beds across the country.