New Delhi, May 1 (IANS): Chip-maker Qualcomm on Saturday pledged $4 million (over Rs 29.7 crore) to help India fight the deadly second Covid wave that has shattered its health-care system to its core.

The $4 million donation by the Qualcomm Charitable Foundation and Qualcomm India will be used toward providing critical hospital infrastructure, medical equipment and supplies, to support the medical fraternity in waging the battle.

"As a company, we have been actively planning how we can best provide relief to the communities in India through effective philanthropic action. We recognised that one of the key areas of strain on the system is the shortage of medical supplies and lifesaving equipment," the company said in a statement.

The pandemic has created an unprecedented global public health emergency, making it more crucial than ever for us to work together and to offer each other empathy, support and solidarity.

Qualcomm said that it will continue to offer support to its colleagues, partners, local government, and communities to help them get through this difficult time.

India witnessed highest spike of 4,01,999 fresh cases of Covid-19 and 3,523 fatalities due to coronavirus infection in the last 24 hours, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHF) said on Saturday.

It was the first time when India crossed four lakh figure of Covid cases in a day. For the last nine days, over three lakh Covid cases were being reported while over 3,000 casualties have been reported for the past four days.