US vice president Kamala Harris will deliver a message of solidarity with the people of India on Friday (7), as the US partners with the country to save lives and hasten the end of the coronavirus pandemic, the state department has said.
Harris is slated to deliver her address at the top of an online event 'Bolstering US Covid relief efforts in India: perspectives from the diaspora' organised by the department.
India reported a record 412,262 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours and a record 3,980 deaths. Covid-19 infections have now surged past 21 million, with a total death toll of 230,168, health ministry data show.
Harris, 56, is the first woman, first black, and the first South Asian American to be elected US vice president.
“Kamala Harris will provide an opening message on US solidarity with the people of India as we partner to save lives and hasten the end of the pandemic,” the South and Central Asia bureau of the state department has said.
The event on Friday noon local time will be hosted by Ervin Massinga, senior advisor in the state department.
Massinga will provide an overview of the US government's relief efforts. Panelists will discuss commercial and civil society-led efforts to address the current emergency, what support will be needed to re-open India after the second wave, and how they can align efforts to bring the two countries closer together moving forward.
Harris's remarks would be followed by a panel discussion featuring diaspora leaders including Virginia state senator Ghazala Hashmi, Lata Krishnan from American Indian Foundation, Indiaspora founder M R Rangaswami and Gunisha Kaur, assistant professor at Weill Cornell Center for Human Rights.
