Amid rise in coronavirus cases, India orders 15 million PPEs from China

Amid rise in coronavirus cases, India orders 15 million PPEs from China

AgenciesUpdated: Wednesday, April 15, 2020, 02:07 PM IST
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Amid rise in coronavirus cases in the country, India has ordered 15 million (1.5 crore) personal protection gears besides a few million testing kits from China to fight the COVID-19 outbreak.

According to a report by Indian Express, India is also in process of procuring 1.5 million rapid testing kits from China. These details were revealed by by Indian ambassador to China Vikram Misri on Tuesday.

As its factories resumed operations after over two-month of grim battle against coronavirus, China is busy tapping into the vast business opportunities of export of key medical goods, specially ventilators and personal protection equipment (PPE), across the world, including India, where both private and government bodies are placing orders for the import of these products.

While addressing an online press briefing, Misri highlighted India's efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19. The envoy said India is procuring a host of medical equipment from both domestic and international firms as part of its efforts to expand hospital facilities across the country to deal with coronavirus cases.

"I think facilitation of our needs and our requirements in a timely manner, in a smooth manner, on a predictable timeline at prices that are stable and orderly, would be the best signal possible to send for the India-China relationship," he said.

Misri said India's current target is to produce and procure a total of 17 million PPE sets and "tens and thousands of ventilators". "This offers us opportunity of cooperating in smooth manner. We are identifying bonafide suppliers and entering into agreements. What is important is quality material continues to be available at reasonable and stable prices and we are able to re-establish freight and cargo lines (which were disrupted by initial impact of the coronavirus crisis)," Misri said.

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