Corona: China and India support each other

Anti-China poison is spreading through (anti-) social media, with a role of pro-US lobbies, based on false info. See below realities:

A report in THE PRINT, edited by Shekhar Gupta, dated 11th February, 2020 said :

India is all set to dispatch emergency supplies of medical protective equipment such as masks, gloves, face shields, head and boot covers to coronavirus-hit China.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi offering India’s assistance to China, besides conveying condolences over the loss of lives due to the deadly disease… “The (Indian) ministries have been asked to dispatch the products within the next 4-5 days. To achieve that, we have started discussions with the manufacturers and each product will be procured as per the government purchase protocols. We will purchase from the manufacturers on their standard prices.”

“We will be sending the protective gear including a variety of surgical and non-surgical masks, inspection gloves, shoes and head covers, face shield among a few more items,” a senior official, who was part of the meeting, told ThePrint.

After PM Modi’s letter to President Xi on Feb 9th Sunday, the government Monday approached the manufacturers of medical devices to start the procurement process.

The government has also reached out to the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMED), the lobby of domestic medical device makers. “The government has asked us to provide a list of suppliers, their capacities, prices of certain devices and ready stock availability for procurement,” confirmed Rajiv Nath, forum coordinator, AiMED.

The government has set aside the ban on the export of “personal protection equipment” imposed on 1 February to save the gear for the country’s domestic consumption.

“After understanding our large capacities for producing standard masks and gloves among other things the government has got the confidence to revoke the export ban,” Nath said. However, the high quality inspection gloves and face shields are mostly imported by sellers in India and then sold under their brand names.

Meanwhile, the prices of these devices have already started shooting. “As we initiated the discussions on purchase of equipment, the industry has escalated the prices by four times,” said the official.

Nath confirmed that prices of medical devices have been going up due to increased demand and hoarding due to the export ban. “With lift in ban, hopefully, now the hoarding will stop. The prices of some devices are going up due to spike in demand as the government initiated the discussions. However, manufacturers are not playing with prices but wholesalers and traders are.”

in, March 26, 2020, REPORTED:

China on March 25 Wednesday said India might win its battle against the COVID-19 pandemic at an earlier date. In a statement issued by the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, Counselor Ji Rong said, “We believe that the Indian people will win the battle at an early date. China will continue to fight the epidemic together with India and other countries, enhance cooperation in multilateral platforms such as G20 and BRICS, contribute our wisdom and strength to better address the global challenges and promote the health and well-being of all mankind.”

The statement also thanked India for its support to fight the virus in China. India sent about 15 tonnes of medical assistance comprising masks, gloves and emergency medical equipment to the coronavirus-hit Wuhan city.

Ji Rong expressed appreciation for that on the behalf of her government and added that her country is ready to provide further support to India in the fight to win the battle.

“Chinese enterprises have started to make donations to India. We stand ready to provide further support and assistance to the best of our capability in light of the needs of the Indian side”.

Jo ring also added that the Chinese government has shared its experience in epidemic prevention, control, diagnosis and treatment since the beginning of the outbreak.

On March 24, Tuesday, Beijing reached out to India for support to counter the US’ attempt to pin blame on China for failing to warn the world early on about the virus and to detect and stop the coronavirus.

US officials like Mike Pence and Donald Trump have been calling the coronavirus the ‘Chinese virus’ and both nations had been locked in a blame-game over the cause of the virus outbreak, … with China foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian suggesting that ‘patient zero’ of the pandemic might have come from the US. While US troops took part in Military World Games in October 2019, hosted at Wuhan, the virus was first reported from Wuhan in December 2019.

Two days ahead of the virtual G20 summit, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a phone discussion with Indian Minister of Foreign Affairs S. Jaishankar. Post the discussion, China’s Ambassador to India Sun Weidong posted on Twitter, “Wang Yi said [it is] not acceptable and detrimental to international cooperation to label the virus (as China virus or Wuhan virus) and stigmatize China, hope India [opposes] such narrow mindset.”

“Dr Jaishankar agreed not to label the virus and the international community should send (a) strong signal of solidarity,” he added.

(It was officially called Covid-19 by the WHO, and it refused to call it Wuhan virus. )