Saratoga Student Raises Money To Fight COVID-19 Surge In India

SARATOGA, CA — A Saratoga student is raising money to support COVID-19 relief efforts in India.

Anirudh Kotamraju of Saratoga's Harker High School and Arnav Chaudhari of San Ramon's Dougherty Valley High School had raised $11,500 as of Monday afternoon on the online fundraising platform GoFundMe for critical supplies — such as supplemental oxygen, medicine and food — in the fight against India's COVID-19 surge.

"The support from everyone has been truly astonishing," they wrote on GoFundMe.

India's daily average of new COVID-19 cases is higher than that of any other country in the world, according to Reuters. One of every two COVID-19 cases reported worldwide each day was detected there, Reuters reported.

At the height of India's COVID-19 surge on May 8, more than 400,000 new cases were reported, according to John Hopkins University.

The funds will benefit the Houston-based nonprofit Sewa Inernational, which launched its own fundraising campaign to raise $10 million for the hard-hit country. So far, Sewa has raised $4.8 million.

Ventilators cost $10,000, and an oxygen concentrator, which provides supplemental oxygen, costs $500, according to Sewa.

Donate to the GoFundMe campaign here.

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