US to ship first batch of 100 ventilators donated to India next week: White House

The US will ship next week the first batch of 100 ventilators it has donated to India to treat the coronavirus patients, President Donald Trump has told Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a conference call, the White House said.

Trump spoke with Modi on Tuesday and "the two leaders discussed the G-7 (summit), the COVID-19 response, and regional security issues", it said.

"The president was happy to announce that the United States would be ready to ship the first tranche of 100 donated ventilators to India next week, the White House said in a readout of the call.

India is now the seventh among the worst-hit nations by the COVID-19 pandemic after the US, Brazil, Russia, the UK, Spain and Italy.

India has reported over two lakh confirmed coronavirus cases and 5,815 deaths, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

Ventilators have emerged as a key medical device to treat critical coronavirus patients. Around 1 out of every 5 people who gets COVID-19 becomes seriously ill and develops breathing difficulty, according to the World Health Organisation.

A ventilator takes over the body's breathing process when a disease has caused the lungs to fail. This gives the patient time to fight off the infection and recover.

Earlier, Prime Minister Modi in a series of tweets on Tuesday said that he had a warm and productive conversation with his friend Trump.

''We discussed his plans for the US Presidency of G-7, the COVID-19 pandemic, and many other issues,'' he said.

''The richness and depth of India-US consultations will remain an important pillar of the post-COVID global architecture,'' Modi tweeted.