To Help Overcome The COVID-19 Crisis, Germany Sends Oxygen To India

Oxygen cylinder illustration. (Wikimedia Commons / UNICEF / UNI41215 / Rae)

JAKARTA - The German government will send oxygen and medical aid to India in the coming days to help the country overcome the COVID-19 crisis, said Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, Monday, April 26 local time.

India again set a world daily record for four consecutive days of COVID-19 infection. Last Sunday, April 25, India recorded 349.691 new cases of infection.

Meanwhile, reports of daily mortality due to COVID-19 also experienced a spike, in which 2.767 people died. Total India recorded COVID-19 cases reaching 16.96 million cases, with the death toll reaching 192.311.

"The second wave is currently rolling over India with unprecedented strength. It is true that we acted quickly to stop the entry of new mutations in Germany", Maas told the Rheinische Post newspaper as reported by Reuters, Monday, April 26.

Germany has classified India as an area with a high incidence of coronavirus, placing the country on a separate warning list for the coronavirus mutation.

From Monday onwards, German citizens arriving from India will only be allowed to enter the country with a negative test result and will then have to start a 14-day quarantine. Foreign tourists arriving from India are no longer allowed to enter Germany.

Mass said Germany would do its best to help India deal with the emergency.

A spokesman for the German Ministry of Defense said the Foreign Ministry had asked the military to provide mobile oxygen production facilities, as well as support for transporting emergency goods and other aid to India.

Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday expressed her sympathy for the terrible suffering that the COVID-19 pandemic is causing in India.

"Germany stands in solidarity with India and is preparing a support mission", Merkel said in a statement.

Apart from Germany, the European Commission said it would send oxygen and medicine to India after receiving a request from Delhi. Even so with Britain and the United States who also sent assistance, including medical equipment.