OTTAWA -- Opposition leaders say they support Canada sending personal protective equipment and necessary COVID-19 medical supplies to India as the country battles record-setting COVID-19 infections and related deaths.
Conservative Leader Erin O鈥橳oole told reporters on Monday that he encourages shipping necessary health-care equipment overseas, something he didn鈥檛 approve of early on in the pandemic when Canada was struggling to shore up its own resources.
鈥淵es I do support helping our friends in India, with ventilators, with equipment if we can. Clearly the absence of oxygen supplies for the country being ravaged by the variant there is something we should do,鈥� he said. 鈥淎t the beginning of the crisis when we didn鈥檛 have sufficient PPE and other materials, we shouldn鈥檛 have been sending them around.鈥�
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Canada 鈥渁bsolutely鈥� has a responsibility to help struggling countries.
鈥淭his is a global pandemic, and it鈥檚 really showed how much we鈥檙e connected. If there is an outbreak in any part of the world, it impacts all of us, we鈥檝e seen that impact, we鈥檝e seen the spread of the pandemic,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have to consider ourselves global citizens.鈥�
India is reporting 350,179 new cases and 2,812 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing total fatalities to 195,123. The surge of cases, growing at the fastest pace in the world, has left families and patients pleading for oxygen outside hospitals, the relatives weeping in the street as their loved ones die while waiting for treatment.
The U.S., the U.K. and France have all committed to sending vaccine-related materials, ventilators, oxygen and other supplies to help the country weather the third-wave.
鈥淭he United States has identified sources of specific raw material urgently required for Indian manufacture of the Covishield vaccine that will immediately be made available for India. To help treat COVID-19 patients and protect front-line health workers in India, the United States has identified supplies of therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators, and Personal Protective Equipment that will immediately be made available for India,鈥� a .
Procurement Minister Anita Anand said last Friday Canada is in touch with the high commissioner there about different ways Canada can assist.
鈥淲e will stand ready with PPE and ventilators and any items that might be useful for the government of India. I of course have a very personal connection with that country but on a broader level, when we see a country in need, in that regard, we do stand ready,鈥� she said, adding that Canada has secured 2.7 billion items of PPE and 1.5 billion items have arrived into the country.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau will also be speaking with his Indian counterpart on Tuesday about what Canadian support looks like.
Last week the government announced a 30-day ban on commercial and private flights from India and Pakistan to curb variant spread domestically.
With a file from The Associated Press.
