UK sends oxygen concentrators and ventilators to India – but no Covid vaccines

Foreign Office says Britain first out of the blocks' with help but Labour calls it a drop in the ocean

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The UK has been the first out of the blocks" with help for India, but will not send vaccines to the Covid-ravaged country until Britain has surplus supplies, the Foreign Office minister Nigel Adams has told MPs.

He said the UK was responding to the Indian government's needs, and had been the first country to provide practical support in the face of heartbreaking scenes that had shocked us all". He said he had friends of Indian heritage who were at their wit's end", and vowed the UK would be at the forefront in providing aid.