India is battling an unprecedented health crisis caused by the second COVID-19 wave.
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India is reporting over 4 lakh COVID-19 cases and close to 4000 deaths for the last few days and the health infrastructure is struggling to cope with the crisis, failing to provide oxygen and crucial medicines to the infected patients.
"...Virat Kohli and Bollywood superstar Anushka Sharma are aiming to raise Rs. 7 crore for COVID relief in India," a press release from the celebrity couple stated.
"They are kickstarting a fundraising campaign #InThisTogether on the crowd-funding platform Ketto and are putting Rs. 2 crore for this initiative."
The campaign will run for 7 days on crowd-funding platform Ketto and the amount will be transferred to ACT Grants, the implementation partner which will work towards providing oxygen, medical manpower, vaccination awareness and tele-medicine facilities.
"We are going through an unprecedented time in the history of our country and our nation needs all of us to unite and save as many people as possible. Anushka and I have been shocked to see the human suffering since last year," Kohli said.
The Indian captain further stated that he and his wife had tried to help as many people as possible in their battle against the deadly virus.
"We have been working towards helping as many people as possible all through the pandemic and now, India wants our support more than ever," he said in a statement that was also shared on his social media handle.
"We are starting this fund-raiser with the confidence that we will be able to raise substantial funds to aid those in dire need. We are confident that people will come forward to support fellow countrymen in crisis. We are in this together and we shall overcome this."
Anushka said it has been painful to watch the suffering of people.
"Virat and I have been hugely pained looking at the inexplicable suffering that people are going through and we hope that this fund will aid in our fight against the virus that we are all helplessly witnessing," she said.
Gayatri Yadav, spokesperson ACT Grants said, "Having strong voices like Anushka and Virat help drive fundraising efforts will go a long way towards helping us realise this goal. On behalf of India's startup ecosystem, ACT Grants is truly grateful to have them join this mission."
(With PTI inputs)