World has failed India amid record surge in COVID-19 cases, says top US disease expert Fauci

White House’s Chief Medical Adviser Dr Anthony Fauci has said that countries across the world have failed to unite to assist India against the explosive surge in coronavirus cases. Referring to the unprecedented surge in the country as “tragic”, Fauci addressed the inequality among countries in terms of access to healthcare.

Fauci, while speaking to The Guardian, said that the situation in India had highlighted global inequality. He stressed the importance of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic with a “global response”, while adding that this has not been “accomplished”.

Fauci also blamed the affluent countries for not doing enough to eliminate the pandemic globally.

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) put out an update saying that COVID-19 cases in the world increased for the ninth consecutive week. India now accounts for a major chunk of the new cases. Over the last week, the country has reported 2,172,063 new cases of COVID-19, marking a 52 per cent surge.

Currently, the WHO is trying to accelerate help to India through its COVAX programme. “We have do more than that”, Fauci told The Guardian.

Recently, the US has promised to aid the virus hit country. Fauci said that the US is in the process of sending oxygen, remdesivir, PPE equipment and other medical supplies to the country. He put the onus of responsibility to take such action on rich countries.

“I think that that’s a responsibility that the rich countries need to assume”, he added.

On Wednesday, India recorded 360,960 new cases of COVID-19, setting a global record the largest single-day surge recorded in the world so far. According to the Indian Health Ministry, total fatalities in India had crossed 200,000 to stand at 201,187.