India is my home, it’s bleeding: Priyanka Chopra urges people to donate as India battles COVID-19

Mumbai: Priyanka Chopra has urged the global community to donate funds to help India, which she said is ”bleeding” due to a brutal second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the Union Health Ministry’s data on Thursday, the country saw a record single day rise of 3,79,257 coronavirus infections taking the total tally to 1,83,76527. More than two lakh people have died with a record 3,645 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Expressing her concern over the crumbling health infrastructure in India, Priyanka, in a video posted on Twitter on Thursday said the global community needed to care ”because unless everyone is safe, no one is safe”. ”Why do we need to care? Why is it so urgent right now? I am sitting in London and hearing from my friends and family in India about how hospitals are at capacity, there are no rooms in ICUs, ambulances are too busy, oxygen supply is less, crematoriums having mass cremations because the volume of death is so much. India is my home and India is bleeding,” she said.

Priyanka urged people to come forward to help India with their resources.

”…I’ll tell you why we need to care – because unless everyone is safe, no one is safe. So, please use your resources and focus your energy on helping stop this pandemic. Please donate.” She also said she understands the anger of people and that too will be addressed but the urgency, currently is to donate and support India’s healthcare system.

”India needs you,” the 38-year-old star said in the video.

In a long note, shared alongside the video, the actor said she has set up a fund raiser at GiveIndia, one of the largest organizations in the country providing COVID relief, to contribute towards the fight against the pandemic.

”India my home, is suffering the world’s worst COVID crisis and we all need to help! People are dying in record numbers. There is illness everywhere and it’s continuing to spread and kill at great speed and scale,” she said.

She further said 27 million people follow her on Twitter and urged them to donate whatever one can spare. The funds, she said will directly go towards the healthcare physical infrastructure including Covid care centres, Isolation centers and oxygen generation plants, medical equipment, vaccine support and mobilization.

Chopra further said she and her husband, Nick Jonas, have already contributed towards the cause and will continue to do so.

“We have all seen how far and wide this virus can spread, an ocean between us makes no difference. No one is safe unless everyone is safe,” she said.

“We need to beat this virus, and to do that requires ALL of us.”