All democratic countries must come together to deal with new economic challenges in the post-Covid world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the European Union on Wednesday.
Addressing the India-EU Summit 2020, through video conferencing, the Prime Minister said that he wants the India-EU relationship to strengthen further and is working towards this. “For the same, we must work on a long-term strategic perspective,” he said.
“We must also build an action-oriented agenda which can be implemented. India and EU are natural partners. Our partnership is useful for peace in the world.”
Highlighting that both India and the EU share universal values like democracy, pluralism, inclusiveness, respect for international institutions, multilateralism, freedom and transparency, PM Modi made a strong pitch for even stronger relations between EU and India, particularly in the post-Covid era.
He also expressed his sympathies at the brunt Europe had to bear due to the pandemic.
Noting India has sent medicines to nearly 150 countries, he stressed that the country’s pharma companies can contribute to the global attempt to deal with the pandemic.
Citing how the India-EU summit in March had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he, however, expressed happiness at being able to connect through a virtual medium.
IGI handled record supplies
The capital’s IGI Airport handled more than 20 million pieces of essential medical supplies during the first quarter of the financial year 2021, the airport operator said on Wednesday.
According to Delhi International Airport Limited, this was the largest volume of essential medical supplies handled by any airport in India.
“While the country was under lockdown, Delhi Airport operated by GMR Airports was working 24X7 as a nerve center for handling Covid-19 medical essential supplies through imports and channelling the distribution across the country,” the company said in a statement.
“The medical kits contained: Facemasks – 10.3 million, Gloves – 6.2 million, Goggles – 4.9 million, Body suits – 1.9 million, Shoe covers – 1.4 million, 250 ventilators etc.”
Accordingly, dedicated teams operated the cargo terminal and set up a 3,800 sq metre facility within a record time of 7 days to handle Covid-related medical essentials, the statement said.
“Delhi Airport has recorded highest volume of air cargo in India during last three months,” the statement said.
“In the month of June 2020, Delhi Airport recorded 1,850 cargo freighter aircraft movements, which is the highest in the country. This comprises of 1,091 scheduled and 759 non-scheduled freighter movements.”
In addition to essential medical supplies, Delhi Airport also acted as a hub for ‘Krishi Udan’.
“The first consignment of fresh vegetables from Varanasi was carried by the British Airways on Delhi-London lane on April 23, 2020 with the support from Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, GOI and Ministry of Civil Aviation,” the statement said.
“Three metric tonnes of mangoes from orchards around Lucknow was sent to Dubai by Air India Express flight on 4th June 2020.”
Covid in India
India recorded the highest single-day spike of 29,429 coronavirus cases and 582 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the tally to 9,36,181 cases with a death total of 24,309, the Health Ministry’s data stated on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the country had crossed the grim nine lakh mark, adding over a lakh cases within three days. India had crossed the eight lakh cases on July 11.
According to Health Ministry data, as many as 5,92,031 patients have recovered, almost twice the number of active patients at 3,19,840. The rate of recovery has touched 63.02 per cent. India, however, remains the third worst-affected country after the US and Brazil.
During the last 24 hours, 3,20,161 samples were tested, as the testing lab network continues to expand. As on date, more than 1,206 labs have enabled people to undergo coronavirus tests.
Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state, with 2,67,665 cases and 10,695 casualties followed by Tamil Nadu with total 1,47,324 cases, including 2,099 deaths.
With 1,606 new coronavirus cases and 35 deaths in the last 24 hours, the national capital recorded a total tally of 1,15,346 cases and 3,446 deaths.
States with more than 10,000 cases included Gujarat (43,637, Uttar Pradesh (39,724), Rajasthan (25,571), Madhya Pradesh (19,005), West Bengal (32,838), Haryana (22,628), Karnataka (44,077), Andhra Pradesh (33,019), Telangana (37,745), Assam (17,807), and Bihar (19,824).
On the global front, the overall number of global COVID-19 cases has increased to more than 13.2 million, while the deaths have soared to over 5,77,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.