As India confronts a devastating second wave of COVID-19 infections, with some 300,000 cases a day, securing essential oxygen equipment is “the need of the hour”. 

That’s the message from Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque, Representative of the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, in the country. 

The UN agency has been supporting pandemic response in India for more than a year, where it has been “all hands on deck”, she said. 

Amid the current crisis, Dr Haque has been highlighting the importance of vaccination, but also the need to continue “social vaccination”, her term for practices such as proper handwashing and wearing masks in public. 

Dr Haque spoke to our colleague Anshu Sharma in Delhi.