Officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) are planning to send aid to India, since the country is struggling with a massive second wave of Covid-19 cases and deaths. Since the condition are at an “advanced stage”, Irish officials are working throughout the weekend on their efforts to deliver support to the Asian subcontinent.  

Spokesperson from the DFA on this Sunday afternoon stated about the urgency of the ongoing pandemic situation in India”, whole staff were working with the health department, the HSE and the EU Civilian Protection Mechanism to figure out the best way by which we can send support to India.  

He told The Irish Times that all of these efforts will be at an advanced stage and we will soon provide a legit announcement. The department is also having good contacts with the relevant Indian authorities.  

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney told RTÉ’s on Sunday that the Government was estimating what they could share with India, focusing particularly on oxygen and ventilators. India is more likely to be added to the State’s mandatory hotel quarantine list very shortly.  

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar in a tweet on Sunday described that India is facing a serious second wave causing suffering beyond our expectations. He also paid tribute to Indian healthcare workers in Ireland and wrote that the Government was estimating plans to send oxygen and ventilators to the country very soon.  

The commitment comes as the European Commission announced that they were also planning to send oxygen and medicine to the country following up on a request from Delhi. India is now setting up for a new global record for the greatest number of coronavirus infections in a day, while the United States is also planning to send help to the country.