Vietnamese Minister of Information and Communications Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng and Chairwoman of the Việt Nam Union of Friendship Organisations Nguyễn Phương Nga presented 100 ventilators to help Indian people fight the COVID-19 pandemic in a ceremony held Tuesday from Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese Minister of Information and Communications and Chairman of the Việt Nam-India Friendship Association (VIFA) Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng presented 100 ventilators to help Indian people fight the COVID-19 pandemic during his virtual meeting with Indian Ambassador to Việt Nam Pranay Verma on Tuesday.

At the event, Minister Hùng informed the ambassador about Việt Nam’s ongoing battle against the pandemic and expressed his sympathy toward the Indian Government and people over difficulties in the current crisis the country is facing.

He said in April 2020, the VIFA handed over 100,000 anti-bacterial masks to Indian people and urged the private conglomerate VinGroup to offer 100 ventilators worth over VNĐ10 billion (US$434,000) to the South Asian country.

The minister expressed his belief that under the leadership of the Government and with the solidarity of the entire people, the pandemic in India would be put under control soon.

Verma, for his part, said the move reflected the traditional friendship and cooperation between the two nations amid the pandemic.

He also pledged to effectively use ventilators presented by the Vietnamese side.

India is gripped in the world’s most devastating wave of infections, recording daily cases of 300,000 and more over several recent days with the amount of patients overwhelming the healthcare system.

The total caseload has reached over 22.9 million to date. — VNS