The US will donate ventilators to India to treat the COVID-19 patients and help it fight the “invisible enemy”, President Donald Trump has announced, as he underlined the close partnership between the two countries and called PM Narendra Modi his “good friend”.

A ventilator takes over the body’s breathing process when disease has caused the lungs to fail. This gives the patient time to fight off the infection and recover.

Trump also said the US and India were cooperating to develop a vaccine for the deadly coronavirus that has claimed 307,666 lives and infected more than 4.5 million people globally since it emerged in China in December last year.

“I am proud to announce that the US will donate ventilators to our friends in India,” Trump said in a tweet.

However, the White House did not say how many breathing devices would be sent.

A number of countries, including India, are trying to procure ventilators needed for hospitals to deal with the demand caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

“We are sending a lot of ventilators to India. I spoke to Prime Minister Modi. We are sending quite a few ventilators to India. We have tremendous supply of ventilators,” Trump said.

“Together we will beat the invisible enemy. We stand with India and Prime Minister Modi during this pandemic,” Trump told reporters in the Rose Garden of the White House.

At Trump’s request, India had last month allowed the export of 50 million hydroxychloroquine tablets to treat COVID-19 patients in America, the country worst-hit by the pandemic.

Trump said Indian-Americans were “great” scientists and researchers, who were contributing to the development of the coronavirus vaccine.

He said a COVID-19 vaccine would likely be available by the end of the year. Trump has appointed the former head of vaccines at GlaxoSmithKline to spearhead the vaccine development effort.

“The president just extolled our great relationship with India. India has been a great partner to us for quite some time. I am encouraged to hear ventilators to India,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a press briefing.

She said India will be among several countries that would be getting the ventilators.

World Bank approves $1 billion loan to India

The World Bank on May 15 approved a $1 billion loan to support India’s efforts for providing social assistance to the poor and vulnerable households, severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ‘Accelerating India’s COVID-19 Social Protection Response Program’  will support the government’s efforts towards a more consolidated delivery platform  accessible to both rural and urban populations across state boundaries.

Of the $1 billion commitment, $550 million will be financed by a credit from the International Development Association (IDA) — the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm — and $200 million will be a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), with a final maturity of 18.5 years including a grace period of five years.

The remaining $250 million will be made available after June 30, 2020. The programme will be implemented by the Union ministry of finance.

This takes the total commitment from the World Bank towards emergency COVID-19 response in India to $2 billion. A $1 billion support was announced last month towards immediate support to India’s health sector.

The multilateral lending agency is also in discussions with the government to provide assistance to the country’s micro, small and medium enterprises, said Junaid Ahmad, World Bank country director in India.

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