Global pledges of help for Covid-stricken India

A worker holds a sign asking fans to prepare to show their negative test result for Covid-19, as they arrive at Wembley Stadium to watch the English League Cup final football match between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur

A man wearing a Covid-19 outfit urges people to follow safety protocols during an awareness drive held in Siliguri, India

The United States on Sunday led international pledges of support for India as the country grappled with worsening Covid-19 crisis with record daily death rates and severe medical shortages.

The Indian healthcare system has struggled to cope with a huge surge in cases, leaving patients' families begging for help on social media and the capital New Delhi forced to extend its strict lockdown.

Covid-19 has now killed more than three million people worldwide since emerging in China in December 2019.

Delhi on Sunday reported more than one-quarter of those tested were positive.

Western nations including Britain, France and Germany have also pledged help.

"The United States has identified sources of specific raw material urgently required for Indian manufacture of the Covishield vaccine," a White House statement said, referring to the India-produced version of the AstraZeneca shot.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the country had been shaken by a "storm" as he called on people to get vaccinated and not "get swayed by any rumour about the vaccines".

Arch-foe Pakistan offered support and assistance as Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted prayers for a "speedy recovery".

Neighbouring Bangladesh, which shares a 4,000-kilometre (2,500-mile) border with India, will halt land crossings for two weeks, Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen told AFP.

"He was gasping for air, we removed his face mask and he was crying and saying 'save me, please save me'," Mohan Sharma, 17, said of his father, who died outside a Delhi hospital.

A weeklong lockdown in the megacity of 20 million, set to last until Monday, was extended by one week.

The European Union is pooling resources to ensure a rapid response. "Alarmed by the epidemiological situation in India. We are ready to support," European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.

In Iraq, the blaze at eastern Baghdad's Ibn al-Khatib hospital began when improperly stored oxygen cylinders blew up, medics said.

The health ministry said 82 people were killed and 110 wounded, while the Iraqi Human Rights Commission said 28 of the victims were patients who had to be taken off ventilators to escape the flames.

Elbaz was known for his playful designs that transformed the storied French house Lanvin before his ouster in 2015.

A limited glimpse of pre-pandemic life will however be on display in the US on Sunday with a Oscars ceremony reuniting some Hollywood's A-listers for the first time in more than a year.

A limited number of spectators could also be allowed to attend the Monaco Grand Prix on May 23, Formula One chief executive officer Stefano Domenicali said Sunday.

bur-leg-bgs/dw

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