The Federal Government decided in today’s Council of Ministers to support India with two million euros from the Foreign Disaster Fund (AKF). The funds are intended for the purchase of antiviral medicine in the fight against COVID-19.
The pandemic has severely affected India. Since the beginning of the crisis, around 200,000 people have already died of COVID-19 on the subcontinent. Especially in the last few days, the number of new cases has skyrocketed. Every day, more than 350,000 people are newly infected, which is about one third of the new cases worldwide.
Support and solidarity for India in this grave emergency situation is a matter of course for Austria. We can only defeat the pandemic together worldwide. We are therefore helping wherever possible, quickly and in an non-bureaucratic way, be it through intensive medical care treatments for foreign COVID-19 patients in Austria, the provision of medical equipment to countries in need, or most recently the joint procurement of vaccines with the European Commission for our partners in the Western Balkan states,
said Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
The urgently needed medicine is procured through the Austrian Red Cross, which is a long-standing and reliable partner of Austrian humanitarian aid and has extensive experience in combating epidemics and pandemics.
Now is not the time to look away, we must join forces and provide aid – and do so quickly. That is why today we have adopted an emergency aid package as Austria’s contribution to a joint effort of the European Union. This will finance antiviral drugs from Europe. That is why we have quadrupled the Foreign Disaster Fund. And I am incredibly glad, especially in situations like these, that we have committed ourselves to this,
Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler emphasised.
The pictures that have reached us from India in the last few days are frightening. They show us plainly that we are all challenged in the fight against the pandemic. No one is safe until all of us are safe. It is therefore all the more important that we support those countries that need our help so urgently,
said Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg.
Clinics and hospitals in India are already operating well beyond capacity and shortages of medical oxygen for ventilation and antiviral drugs are making life-saving treatments increasingly difficult. Already, around 3,000 people fall victim to the pandemic in the country every day. Without international support, medical facilities are certain to be completely overwhelmed.
