[Watch] Shoaib Akhtar Calls For Global Help For India

Bhubaneswar: Former Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar’s tweet expressing solidarity with the Indian people has amplified the radio silence of Indian cricketing celebs over the unfolding COVID-19 crisis in the country.

“India is really struggling with Covid-19. Global support needed. The health care system is crashing. It’s a pandemic, we are all in it together. Must become each other’s support,” he tweeted along with a video message.

He said that the crisis is too big for any government to handle and appealed to Pakistan government and the people to extend help to India, which is battling an oxygen shortage.

Indian stars and cricketing legends have faced flak for not doing enough even as the nation is reeling under the onslaught of a brutal second COVID wave that has been claiming over 2000 lives daily and keeps clocking a record number of infections each day.

The second wave began in February and the daily average caseload was around 22,000 cases in the next 50 days. In the following 10 days, cases rose sharply with the daily average reaching 89,800, a BBC report said.

The healthcare system also seems to be crumbling under the COVID-19 burden. Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad have almost run out of hospital beds while many states are grappling with the shortage of oxygen needed to breathe life into critical patients.

As many as 45 COVID patients have died in Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and Jaipur Golden Hospital in Delhi, owing to the low stock of oxygen.