Tracking course of Covid outbreak in India very closely: US

Washington, April 21

The United States is tracking the course of the Covid outbreak in India “very closely”, the State Department has said.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised Americans to avoid all travel to India.

“We are tracking the course of the Covid outbreak in India very closely,” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference.

Responding to a question, he said, Secretary of State Tony Blinken and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar discussed the issue during a phone call on Monday.

“Whether it's India or any other country, we are committed to doing what we can both at present and going forward to see to it that this virus is brought under control,” he said.

According to the World Health Organisation, from January 3, 2020 to April 20, 2021, India has reported 15.3 million Covid cases and over 1,80,000 deaths. As of April 11, a total of 104 million vaccine doses had been administered, the WHO said.

In the last 24 hours, 2,59,170 new Covid cases and 1,761 deaths were reported in India, the WHO said. PTI

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