In India right now, nearly 400,000 new cases of COVID-19 are reported daily and terrifyingly over 4,000 people are dying every day – that’s three precious human beings each minute.

In some cases, numerous members of families are being taken by this virus within a matter of weeks. These numbers, however, are far below the reality; India’s true COVID-19 numbers may be five to ten times greater than the official tally.

As, thankfully, the pandemic is being brought under control in the UK, India’s nightmare is just beginning. The poor and those on the front line, as is often the case, are the most severely affected.

If you can’t work you don’t eat

Day labourers in some areas can’t work due to lockdowns. In others, terrible fear is leading to the cancelling of projects. As construction ends or people who provide domestic help are sent home, so the work dries up. For those who live hand to mouth, no work means no food.

The prospect of starvation beckons its hungry fingers, but even before this, the immune systems of the desperately hungry are weakened, which allows COVID-19 to cut a terrible swathe through the poor and disenfranchised.

Feed Those Unable To Work

Those on the front line risk all, due to a lack of supplies.

Samaritan’s Purse is providing PPE for frontline staff in India and Nepal

Many doctors, nurses, paramedics and health care professionals are putting themselves in harm’s way to care for their fellow man in the same way as happened in the UK, but due to a creaking health care service and such unprecedented demand, they lack the vital PPE they need to be able to avoid infection and keep on caring.

Provide PPE

You can provide food to people who can’t work and support for those who will care for them

Through local church partners who understand the situation best in their area, Samaritan’s Purse aims to provide a one-month supply of emergency food, masks, gloves, soap, and hand sanitiser for 3,500 families from vulnerable sections of the population. These include migrant workers and daily-wage earners who are pushed to the limits during a surge in COVID-19 cases and lockdown in India.

Samaritan’s Purse Partners providing food kits to families in desperate need due to the impact of COVID-19

What the food kits contain:

• Rice 10 kg
• Wheat 5 kg
• Cooking oil- 1 litre
• Pulses- 2 kg
• Onions – 1 kg
• Potatoes – 2kg
• Sugar – 1 kg
• Salt- 200g
• Masala – 250g
• Sanitiser – 150 ml
• Masks – 5
• Soap- 2

Additionally, together we can provide 500 community health care workers with full PPE kits in remote under-resourced clinics.

What the health care worker kits contain:

• Gloves
• Gown
• Shoe covers
• Head cover
• Mask
• Respirator
• Eye protector
• Face shield
• Goggles

Relief kits will be distributed by local church leaders in some of the hardest hit areas of North and Central India and contain Bible tracts and literature.

In the spring of 2020, together we provided support in the UK by distributing PPE and funds for food banks. Would you now help to do the same for those in India?

You can ensure we meet the needs of this population, feeding them and providing protection from the virus through nutrition, hygiene supplies, masks and sanitiser, and offering critically needed medical care.

Send Aid to India

Expanding COVID-19 care across South Asia – Nepal

According to the Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) of Nepal, there are 413,111 confirmed cases of COVID 19 and 4,084 deaths have been reported in Nepal up to 10 May 2021. The numbers are increasing, and the trend is suggestive of massive eruptions in the coming future. Shockingly the general population’s positive test rate is 15.5%.

Our local partners working with the Nepalese Government have contacted us to request support to prepare for the possibility that situation might deteriorate to the level seen in India.

Isolation Centre Management for COVID-19 Patients.

In Nepal many people who are infected with COVID-19 are unable to self-isolate, often due to the need to share small rooms, and this issue is worse for those with a disability.

Working with the local health authorities and local partners we aim to establish a 110 bed disability-friendly isolation facility for those infected but not critically ill, in order to break the chain of infection while the country prepares. With the help of local partnerships and expertise, the facility will be able to refer anyone who falls seriously ill to critical care facilities Jyapu Samaj will provide the buildings, Lalitpur Metropolitan City Office the necessary staff, including doctors, nurses, paramedics, and ambulances and oxygen cylinders.

Food supplies for those unable to work

What isn’t able to be funded locally is the task of providing nutritious food for patients, training of healthcare workers on waste management and disinfection, and disinfection materials and PPE to ensure this project can go ahead.

Your gift could be the one that ensures these needs are met and that these beds are made available.