Foreign aid pours into India as COVID-19 crisis worsens
02 May 2021
Countries around the world are sending supplies and aid to India to help the country fight its COVID-19 outbreak, currently the world's worst.
Why it matters: Hospitals are running out of supplies, crematoriums are burning around the clock, and experts are increasingly concerned about the presence of a new variant in India.
The United States: Last Wednesday the White House announced it would send $100 million worth of aid to India, including 15 million N95 masks, 1 million rapid diagnostic tests, and an initial delivery of 1,100 refillable oxygen cylinders.
- These supplies will be delivered in six shipments to India. A third of those deliveries arrived in New Delhi Sunday, per the New York Times.
The United Kingdom: The British government announced in a statement Sunday that it would be sending 1,000 more ventilators, on top of what it promised last week, which included 200 ventilators, 495 oxygen concentrators and 3 oxygen generation units.
France: France's Indian embassy announced Sunday the arrival of France's first cargo flight of aid materials, containing 28 tons of medical equipment.
- Included are eight oxygen generators, each of which can supply 250 patients. It also includes 28 ventilators and 200 electric syringe pushers.
- The statement notes that a second shipment of aid is being planned currently.
Germany: A German plane carrying 120 ventilators and a team of 13 medical experts reached India Saturday, per Deutsche Welle.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.