India's US envoy meets Dr Fauci to discuss COVID crisis, new strains & vaccine efficacy

India’s Ambassador to the United States Taranjit Singh Sandhu on Wednesday held a virtual meeting with Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s top public health expert, to discuss the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in India and the efficacy of vaccines against the new virus strains. The meeting was part of Sandhu’s intensified and focused outreach to key stakeholders of healthcare and pandemic response in the US. For the first time, the Indian envoy met Dr Fauci, who is the top advisor to President Joe Biden on the pandemic and has emerged as an icon of America's COVID battle for opposing the former President, Trump, who had tried to play down the pandemic from its early stages to the point where it hit the US hardest among the world's countries.

During the meeting, Dr Fauci expressed his solidarity and support with India in this hour of crisis. The meeting came a day after he termed India’s situation very desperate and suggested that the government gather all its resources, including the armed forces, to immediately build makeshift field hospitals. He also urged other countries to help India with not only materials but also personnel.

Topics including the virus strains and the efficacy of vaccines against these variants in India also came up during the discussion. Dr Fauci, who is also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Health, offered American assistance to India, including in research and development.

Dr Fauci also spoke about the severe COVID-19 situation faced by the US and the various policy responses adopted to tackle it. Strengthening joint research in healthcare, particularly in the context of the pandemic, was also discussed.

India's COVID-19 tally

India is struggling with an unprecedented second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic with more than 3,00,000 daily new coronavirus cases being reported in the past few days. According to Indian health ministry data on Tuesday, India’s total tally of COVID-19 cases crossed the 2-crore mark with 3,57,229 infections being reported in a day, while the death toll increased to 2,22,408 with 3,449 new fatalities.