US aid arrives in India as Covid cases explode

Vehicles drive beneath an electronic billboard bearing the message ‘#StayStrongIndia’ (as a sign of support between the United Arab Emirates and India against a surge of Covid-19 coronavirus cases) along a highway in Dubai

The first US emergency aid to India arrived on Friday as the country battles a devastating surge in Covid-19 cases which has overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums. The supplies arrived as India recorded another 385,000 new cases in the past 24 hours -- a new global record -- and almost 3,500 deaths, according to official data that many experts suspect falls short of the true toll. A US Super Galaxy military transporter carrying more than 400 oxygen cylinders, other hospital equipment and nearly one million rapid coronavirus tests landed at New Delhi's international airport early Friday. The delivery, which flew in from the Travis military base in California, followed talks this week between US President Joe Biden and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.