Delhi, April 26: On Monday morning, India reported 3,52,991 new COVID-19 infections, crossing the three-lakh single-day spike mark for the sixth consecutive day. As India stares down at a major healthcare crisis, the country is receiving help from all around the globe to survive this phase.
Joining the list of people making way to help Indians, are Indian-American tech leaders and billionaires.
US-headquartered tech giant Google’s chief executive officer Sundar Pichai announced that the tech giant will be giving ₹135 crores ($18 million) in new funding for India.
Google also announced a slew of measures to help increase awareness, information on vaccines, testing, and more.
Devastated to see the worsening Covid crisis in India. Google & Googlers are providing Rs 135 Crore in funding to @GiveIndia, @UNICEF for medical supplies, orgs supporting high-risk communities, and grants to help spread critical information.https://t.co/OHJ79iEzZH
— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) April 26, 2021
“We know the biggest way we can help is through our core information products like Search and Maps, YouTube, and Ads. Our COVID features on Search are available in India, in English, and in eight Indian languages, and we continue to improve localization and highlight authoritative information. That includes information on where to get testing and vaccines; so far, Maps and Search surface thousands of vaccine sites, and we are working to add tens of thousands more,” the company said in a blog.
Joining Pichai is another tech leader Satya Nadella, the chief executive officer of Microsoft. Nadella took to the social media platform Twitter to say that Microsoft will use its resources and technology to support India during the crisis.
I am heartbroken by the current situation in India. I’m grateful the U.S. government is mobilizing to help. Microsoft will continue to use its voice, resources, and technology to aid relief efforts, and support the purchase of critical oxygen concentration devices.
— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) April 26, 2021
The US opened up the supply of raw materials for the production of the COVID-19 vaccine to India on Sunday night.
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Earlier, another Indian-American tech leader, Vinod Khosla – co-founder of Sun Microsystems – had announced a fund for hospitals in India to build up their supply of oxygen containers and concentrators among other essential supplies – an opportunity that appealed to India’s biggest hospital chains.
Balaji Srinivasan, a Silicon Valley investor, has also announced a donation of up to $100,000 for COVID-19 relief in India.
If you’ve been fortunate enough to do well this year, consider joining me and @VitalikButerin by donating at the addresses below.
But if all you have is Twitter, help spread the word. For every RT, I’ll donate another $50 to fight COVID in India, up to $100k. #cryptovscovid https://t.co/eKlOlccelv
— balajis.com (@balajis) April 25, 2021
They were also joined by the likes of Adam Nash, the co-founder of Silverback Ventures, and Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of cryptocurrency asset Ethereum, who have pledged donations to India.
