Donald Trump said he is hopeful a Covid-19 vaccine would be available by the end of the year

United States President Donald Trump announced on Friday that his country will donate ventilators to India, moments after he underlined the close partnership between the two countries and called Prime Minister Narendra Modi his "good friend". Donald Trump also announced that the United States and India are cooperating on the coronavirus vaccine.

In a tweet, Donald Trump said, "I am proud to announce that the United States will donate ventilators to our friends in India. We stand with India and @narendramodi during this pandemic. We're also cooperating on vaccine development. Together we will beat the invisible enemy!"

Meanwhile, sources have told India Today TV that the United States will donate 200 ventilators to India.

At Trump's request, India had last month allowed the export of 50 million hydroxychloroquine tablets to treat Covid-19 patients in America, the country worst hit by the pandemic.

Earlier in the day, praising India and PM Modi, Donald Trump had said that the United States is working with India on developing a vaccine for Covid-19. Donald Trump also praised Indian-Americans as "great" scientists and researchers.

Donald Trump said he is hopeful a Covid-19 vaccine would be available by the end of the year, and announced he was appointing a former pharmaceutical executive to spearhead the effort.

"I just got back a short while ago from India recently and we are working very much with India and we have a tremendous Indian population in the US and many of the people that you are talking about are working on the vaccine too. Great scientist and researchers," Donald Trump told reporters.

"Yes. We are working very closely also with India," Donald Trump said responding to a question.

Courtesy: India Today