Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that “India is ready to do whatever possible to help its friends” hours after his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu thanked him for supplying Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to help his country fight the Coronavirus pandemic.

India had rushed a five-tonne cargo of medicines, including anti-malarial drug Hydroxychloroquine, seen as a possible cure for COVID-19.

“Thank you, my dear friend @narendramodi, Prime Minister of India, for sending Chloroquine to Israel. All the citizens of Israel thank you!”, Netanyahu said in a tweet Thursday evening.

Netanyahu thanked India two days after a plane carrying materials used to make medicines for treating Coronavirus patients arrived in Israel from New Delhi on Tuesday.

After the Israeli PM expressed his gratitude, PM Modi said, “We have to jointly fight this pandemic” and wished for the “well-being and good health of the people of Israel.”

We have to jointly fight this pandemic.

India is ready to do whatever is possible to help our friends.

Praying for the well-being and good health of the people of Israel. @netanyahu https://t.co/jChdGbMnfH

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 10, 2020

The five-tonne shipment included ingredients for drugs chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine, believed effective in the treatment of Coronavirus.

The deadly coronavirus has infected nearly 10,000 people in Israel and claimed 86 lives. As many as 121 others are on ventilators in serious condition.

The Indian consignment reached Israel within days after Netanyahu spoke to PM Modi for the second time on April 3, requesting supply of Hydroxychloroquine, with India being the world’s largest producer and exporter of the drug.

India, however, had to restrict its export to meet domestic contingencies.

Netanyahu had been in touch with PM Modi ever since the Coronavirus crisis erupted. He had made a special request on March 13 asking the Indian prime minister to approve and allow export of masks and pharmaceuticals to Israel.

“I also spoke to the prime minister of India, my friend Narendra Modi. We are dependent on supply lines from various countries. We are looking into it all the time,” Netanyahu had then said addressing a press conference.

Several countries have been experimenting with hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus symptoms. US President Donald Trump recently touted its potential in treating Covid-19 positive patients, requesting India to help his country with supplies.

Netanyahu’s thanks to India followed soon after US President Donald Trump described Modi as “terrific” for allowing the export of Hydroxychloroquine to the US.

Extraordinary times require even closer cooperation between friends, said US President Donald Trump as he profusely thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the people of India for allowing the export of pre-ordered 29 million doses of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to help his country fight the Coronavirus pandemic.

He added that India’s humanitarian act “won’t be forgotten”.

To this, PM Modi had replied that his country “would do everything possible to help humanity’s fight against COVID-19”.

Earlier on Wednesday, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had also thanked India for the “timely assistance” in allowing export of raw materials to increase the production of the anti-malaria drug.

Bolsonaro said, “As a result of my direct conversation with the Prime Minister of India, we will receive, until Saturday, raw material to continue producing hydroxychloroquine, so that we can treat COVID-19 patients, as well as malaria, lupus and arthritis”.

“I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian people for this very timely assistance to the Brazilian people,” he added.

Hydroxychloroquine has been approved by the national task force of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) as a prophylaxis – a treatment to prevent a disease – for people at “high risk” of contracting COVID-19. However, it is recommended only for a healthcare worker who is treating a COVID-19 patient.

Experts, however, have urged caution until bigger trials validate hydroxychloroquine’s efficacy. Chloroquine can have potentially serious side effects, especially in high doses or when administered with other medications.