WHO chief lauds India, PM Modi for support to global COVID-19 response

In a bid to fight the pandemic, India has supplied COVID-19 vaccines to its neighbours including Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Myanmar, and Bangladesh

Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Saturday expressed gratitude to India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for continued support to the global COVID-19 response against the pandemic.

"Thank you, India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for your continued support to the global COVID-19 response. Only if we #ACTogether, including sharing of knowledge, can we stop this virus and save lives and livelihoods," Tedros tweeted.

In a bid to fight the pandemic, India has supplied COVID-19 vaccines to its neighbours including Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.

Large consignments of Covishield vaccine doses were flown in special Indian aircraft to Seychelles, Mauritius, and Myanmar on Friday. Contractual supplies are also being undertaken to Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Morocco, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.

The United States on Friday "applauded" India for gifting COVID-19 vaccines to several countries including the Maldives, Bhutan, and Bangladesh, saying New Delhi is a "true friend" which is using its pharma industry to help the global community.

Taking to Twitter, the State SCA (the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in US State Department) said: "We applaud India's role in global health, sharing millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine in South Asia. India's free shipments of the vaccine began with Maldives, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Nepal and will extend to others. India's a true friend using its pharma to help the global community."

Earlier today, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had announced that a flight carrying two million doses of India made coronavirus vaccines landed in Brazil.

"Trust the Pharmacy of the World. Made in India vaccines arrive in Brazil," Jaishankar tweeted.

India dispatched two million doses of Covishield vaccines to Brazil on Friday. Covishield has been developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and is being manufactured by Serum Institute of India.

Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Embassy in New Delhi, had made arrangements with India and SII for the transportation of the COVID-19 vaccines, following up on a letter from President Jair Bolsonaro to Prime Minister Narendra Modi dated January 8.