The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday that a multilateral response is critical to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic in India and globally as it hailed recent announcements by several countries to provide immediate support to India.
India is struggling with a second wave of the pandemic with more than 3,00,000 daily new coronavirus cases being reported in the past few days, and hospitals are reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and beds.
"Our sympathy and condolences to the Indian people on the human tragedy that is taking place there as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. We continue to engage closely with the Indian authorities. We stand ready to strengthen that engagement and to scale up our technical collaboration," Gerry Rice, Director, Communications Department of the IMF, told reporters at a news conference.
The human tragedy, indeed, is a stark reminder that the pandemic continues to be a grave threat globally, he said.
Responding to a question, Mr Rice said the IMF is redoubling its efforts to foster global collaboration.
"We welcome the most recent announcements by several countries, to provide immediate support to India. We believe a multilateral response is critical to overcome the pandemic in India, and globally," he said.