Heartbreaking To See COVID-19 Crisis Utterly Overwhelm India's Health Systems: US Lawmakers

COVID-19: India is struggling with a second wave of the pandemic with around 400,000 daily new coronavirus cases being reported in the past few days and hospitals are reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and beds.

Top US lawmakers have expressed serious concern over the sudden spike in coronavirus cases in India, saying it is "heartbreaking" to see the "crisis utterly overwhelm the health systems" in the country. "India's latest surge of COVID-19 infections is a humanitarian crisis that requires our assistance," Congressman Brad Sherman, Democratic Co-Chair of India Caucus in the House of Representatives, said on Friday. "As long as COVID-19 persists in India, there is the potential for additional variants that could pose a serious threat to a vaccinated America. We must do our part to quell the virus anywhere and everywhere it persists," Congressman Sherman said. A variant strain of the virus, known as B.1.617, is circulating in India, along with other variant strains, including B.1.1.7, first detected in the United Kingdom, and B.1.351, first detected in South Africa.