COVID-19

This is the fourth story in a multi-part series on the pandemic and its impact on people in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, YUVA, a non-profit organisation, attempts to understand the challenges they face in accessing relief and assesses the rights-based approach to benefits. Rajit, a 57-year-old construction worker is finding it hard to make ends meet after the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown hit. "I have not been able to work for a day since the March lockdown," he says. The official figures on the number of construction workers in Mumbai are pegged to around 6 lakhs, making them 2%…

Plasma therapy, also known as ‘convalescent plasma therapy’, is an experimental mode of treatment. It uses the blood plasma donated by patients who have recovered from COVID-19, as their bodies would have developed protective antibodies against the virus, to treat those with the virus. Usually used on patients who are not responding to conventional treatment, plasma therapy is currently helping many COVID-19 patients recover. How antibodies work When one contracts an infection, especially a viral infection, their recovery depends on the production of antibodies to fight the antigen (the virus, which in the current case, is COVID-19). These antibodies are…

While the fear of COVID-19 drives commuters' aversion to mass public transport, IOT-based two-wheeler rental start-ups are drawing this segment of intra-city commuters to their personal transport-based platforms. Sensing an opportunity, they are ramping up their network of pick-up and drop-off points, raising employee and vehicle sanitation and increasing their fleet of pre-sanitized scooters and electric bikes. To make the prospect attractive and reduce their logistical burden (read, frequent sanitisation) they are even offering longer contracts. New commuting needs Admitting that the market had "flipped", operators say that they had to wake up to new commuting needs and commuter expectations…

A recent news report talked about the custodian of an apartment complex in Kundalahalli making a “one month rent free’ offer” to attract prospective tenants. In a city where home-owners demand deposits at least three times higher than in other Metros, the Kundalahalli offer -- even if sceptics see it as a marketing gimmick -- is a big climb-down for house owners. The advertisement is, in fact, reflective of Bengaluru's current market slump in home rentals. Realtors and home owners are unable to find tenants, owing to a reverse migration of the working population to their home towns, cities and…

A people's probe Civil society organisations have formed a 23-member fact-finding committee to probe the violence that broke out in D J Halli and K G Halli on the night of August 11. This will be the fourth fact-finding committee probing the violence after the ones formed by the ruling BJP, the Congress and Citizens for Democracy. The committee will meet families of those affected, residents, police officials, media persons who were attacked and others, to establish the sequence of events leading to the violence. It's terms of reference include establishing the role played by all parties concerned including Facebook,…

This is the third story in a multi-part series on the pandemic and its impact on people in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, YUVA, a non-profit organisation, attempts to understand the challenges they face in accessing relief and assesses the rights-based approach to benefits. The COVID-19-induced lockdown disproportionately impacted the lives of women and other minority genders. In a pre-pandemic world these communities were already disadvantaged, with lesser space for expression, deeper struggles in accessing jobs, more vulnerability to abuse and often shouldering a larger burden of household duties and care needs.  The pandemic deepened these schisms.  Nazar is a trans-woman…

In an online meeting with apartment RWA representatives on August 14, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad clarified doubts on COVID management. The meeting covered the current rules on containment zones, festival permissions, waste management, quarantine and isolation guidelines, etc. BBMP Special Commissioner (Finance & IT) Rajendra Cholan, and Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management & Animal Husbandry) Randeep D also attended the session. Following are some key questions answered at the meeting. Q: Will houses with COVID patients continue to be barricaded? Having received multiple complaints from citizens on inhuman barricading of COVID-positive houses, Manjunath clarified this practice would no longer…

While the Tamil Nadu government has extended the lockdown till August 31st, urban communities in Chennai are preparing to strengthen their resilience to handle side effects of such a prolonged period of lockdown and restrictions. How is the pandemic affecting them? What are the lessons learned? Swati Amar meets people from different neighbourhoods of Chennai: Royapuram and the neighbouring areas Chennai Zone 5 comprises Royapuram, George Town, Mannadi, Sowcarpet and areas adjoining the Government General Hospital and Madras Central Station. Head & chief diabetologist at M V Hospital for Diabetes Royapuram and president-elect at D-Foot International Dr Vijay Vishwanathan says,…

This is the second story in a multi-part series on the pandemic and its impact on people in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, YUVA, a non-profit organisation, attempts to understand the challenges they face in accessing relief and assesses the rights-based approach to benefits. When the pandemic magnified insecurities of vulnerable populations, youth groups across the city rose in response, spearheading multiple efforts for timely relief, access to information for communities and more.  “In March 2020, as part of the COVID-19 rapid assessment survey by Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), I visited a family where a woman was feeding…

Swati Patil can’t stop crying. It has been ten days since she lost her mother due to unavailability of a hospital bed. “If only we had got a bed for dialysis, she would still be alive today,” she said, holding her mother’s photo close to her heart. “There was nothing wrong with her,” says Swati. “She was coughing the other day and the family doctor mentioned that we go for a COVID-19 test. All of us tested negative except my mother. It took us four days to find a bed in the municipal-run Kasturba Hospital in Somwar Peth, which has…