External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has assured Indian diaspora in Kuwait that the second wave of COVID-19 is receding in India and the government really moved mountains to contain the pandemic. Dr Jaishankar, who arrived in Kuwait on his first bilateral visit to the oil-rich Gulf nation on Wednesday, addressed the Indian community at the conclusion of his meetings in the country.
He said, the second wave of the COVID-19 has started to recede. The daily number of new infections is less than what it was in early May. The positivity rate has also come down dramatically, Dr Jaishankar said. He said, a large part of it has been made possible by very very vigorous government response to the second wave. People really moved mountains to respond to what was an unprecedented situation, the minister said.
Dr Jaishankar said, the government ran hundreds of oxygen trains to ferry oxygen from the production centres to the major cities. All our planes were mobilised, including the Air Force planes for the oxygen cylinder tanks to be moved, both within the country and from abroad to India, he said. The minister said the government procured medicines which were essential for COVID treatment. Many of them came from abroad.
The government also ensured the domestic production of the medicines was enhanced, he said. Dr Jaishankar said the economy has started to make a strong recovery, asserting that there is a sense that the economic impact of the second wave would be less than what happened in the last year. He lauded the contributions of the Indian community, saying it in many ways defines India abroad.