Taiwan To Send India Medical Oxygen Concentrators And Cylinders: Taiwan Ambassador Baushuan Ger

Taiwan is working hard to provide much needed oxygen cylinder and concentrator to India. Baushuan Ger, Taiwan’s ambassador to India told BW Businessworld that a committee is set up to expedite the process. “We are deliberating the quantity as how much can be sent to India quickly. Taiwan is among the counties to offer assistance to India as Covid 19 induced pandemic’s second wave has choked Indian health infrastructure to its limit.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on April 27 showcased solidarity with India and expressed her serious concern with the present situation. As India logged a record-breaking daily surge of coronavirus infection for consecutive days this week, Tsai said that Taiwan “stand with India” during this difficult time while offering to provide help. Since the second wave of COVID-19 began exploding in India, support has poured in from across the globe with messages and gestures of solidarity.

On the logistics part whether India needs to arrange the transportation from Taipei, Baushuan Ger, who is the representative of Taiwan in India said: “We are yet to work out the modalities of transportation since due to the suspension of commercial flights, we must find other ways.”

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Spokesperson Joanne Ou also confirmed at a press conference that a series of humanitarian aid packages for India is under discussion. Oxygen devices are the items most urgently needed, MOFA said.

“The government & people of Taiwan are seriously concerned about the COVID19 situation in India. We're closely monitoring developments & holding in-depth discussions aimed at providing requisite support to our Indian friends at a time of great need” --MOFA tweeted on 27 April.

India on Wednesday recorded a massive surge of 360,960 cases and 3,293 deaths, according to MoHFW. The cumulative caseload stands at 17,997,267 and the death toll from the virus has crossed the 200,000-mark. India has been reporting over 300,000 cases daily for almost a week now.

Taiwan has been widely applauded for its management of the pandemic. As per the record, it has one of the lowest per capita COVID-19 rates in the world.

Taiwan's policy of the detection of infected people through testing, isolation of positive cases, contact tracing and 14-day quarantining of close contacts worked along the population-based measures included face mask policies, personal hygiene and social distancing.

Whilst, at the begining of the pandemic, Taiwan was considered high risk for COVID-19 due to its proximity to China --in Wuhan-- where the novel corona virus originated and detected at first.