Vikas Swarup, Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (West), on Tuesday said that India shouldered its responsibility as the pharmacy of the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking at the 31st Special Session of the UN General Assembly in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Swarup said that India’s “timely, graded and pro-active” response to the COVID-19 pandemic ensured that the country’s huge population was protected with minimal damage to the economy.
“Within two months of the pandemic, we expanded our diagnostic facility from one major facility for pan-India testing to more than 2,000 today. From having almost no domestic manufacturing of PPE kits, we have become the second-largest manufacturer. More than 17,000 dedicated COVID facilities were set up with 1.6 million isolation beds. Digital tools such as the Aarogya Setu App was developed and are being effectively used for extensive contact tracing,” he said.
India will use the vaccine to help humanity: Swarup
In the virtual address, Swarup assured that India’s vaccine production capacity will be used to help humanity in the ongoing crisis. He also stressed that India will help all the countries in their cold chain and storage capabilities for the delivery of the vaccine.
“The government has also been doing its best to ensure that the economy and the livelihoods of people are not adversely hampered. We announced a massive USD 266 billion stimulus package, amounting to almost 10 per cent of our gross domestic product, directed at helping low-income groups, marginal farmers, small businesses, migrants and those in the informal sector. To ensure food security, the world’s largest food transfer programme was initiated to give extra rations to 800 million people,” Swarup said.
