COVID-19

COVID infections are on the upswing, with the World Health Organization announcing an 80 percent average increase in infections over the past four weeks in five of the health agency’s six regions, a jump largely fuelled by the Delta variant. “Delta is a warning that the virus is evolving but it is also a call to action that we need to move now before more dangerous variants emerge,” said Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme, in a briefing. Statistical models seem to suggest that the third wave in India could be three to four times more severe than…

நாம் பெருந்தொற்றோடு வாழப்பழகி ஆண்டுகள் இரண்டு ஓடி விட்டன. நம்மில் பலரும் பல இழப்புகளைச் சந்தித்திருக்கிறோம்.  எனினும், மீண்டெழுந்து இன்னும் அதிக முனைப்புடன் செயல்பட்டு வருகிறோம்.  மானுடம் இத்தகைய பெருந்தொற்றுகளையும் பேரிடர்களையும் தொன்றுதொட்டே சந்தித்து வந்திருக்கிறது. அந்த அனுபவங்கள் தந்த ஆற்றலைக் கொண்டு அடுத்த நிலைக்குத் தன்னைக் கொண்டு சென்றிருக்கிறது.  பெருந்தொற்றின் பாதிப்புகள் குறித்த பல்வேறு விஷயங்களை ஆராய்ந்து தகவல் பரிமாற்றம் செய்து கொண்டிருந்த அந்த பரபரப்பான நேரத்தில்தான் நம்மையும் தொற்றியது, கொரோனா.  சற்றே அசட்டையாக இருந்ததின் விளைவே அது. அறிகுறிகள் தென்பட ஆரம்பித்ததும், எச்சரிக்கையானோம்.  ஆனால், அடுத்த ஓரிரு நாளில் தொற்று தன்னிருப்பைத் தெளிவாக உணர்த்த ஆரம்பித்ததும், பரிசோதனைக்கு உட்படுத்திக் கொண்டு அதன் முடிவு வருவதற்கு முன்னரே, மருத்துவரிடம் கலந்தாலோசித்து வீட்டுத் தனிமைப்படுத்தலுக்கு நம்மை உட்படுத்திக்கொண்டோம். அந்த நேரடி அனுபவத்தையும் அதைக் கடக்க உதவிய நல் உள்ளங்களைப் பற்றியும் பகிர்ந்து கொள்வதே இக்கட்டுரையின் நோக்கம். இதன் மூலம் நாம் கற்றுக்கொண்டவற்றையும்…

As the third COVID wave appears imminent in the country, robust communication strategies by government agencies become increasingly important. Public health messaging — in both form and content — is an extremely critical component of the response to a pandemic. Access to information about COVID guidelines, vaccination centres and helpline numbers posed a challenge during the first and second waves for a large section of the population, especially the digitally illiterate, marginalised and senior citizens. The avenues of information in the form of trusted media sources and bulletins from government websites seem to be unreachable for these categories. “Only a…

Vaccination for children below 18 years against COVID-19 has become a vexed issue in India after some experts expressed the fear that the third wave is likely to affect children more. Presently, the United States, Canada and the European Union, have begun vaccinating children, with priority for children with comorbidities.  However, most other countries, including India, continue to prioritise vaccinating the 45+ age group, particularly senior citizens, who are the most vulnerable to developing severe infection requiring hospitalization.  The result of the fourth round of national serosurvey that was conducted in 70 districts in June-July revealed that 67.6% people have…

“Every thought plants a seed to one of your actions. Every good action will yield a consequence. The person who takes good steps every day, cannot help but reap a harvest of awesome results.” This quote by Robin Sharma stayed with me for a long time after I read it. It is true that a thought can be powered by positive action, to yield far reaching results. In fact, a recent volunteer-driven initiative in Chennai, the Chennai Volunteers COVID Resource Guide epitomises how citizens can come together, virtually, and create a movement to support fellow citizens in their time of need. Chennai Volunteers Resource…

The union cabinet approval of the new Model Tenancy Act on 2 June is causing unease among the 2.5 million tenants in Mumbai, especially those who have rented flats under the Pagdi system.   A pagdi system is a legal tenancy system that flourished in the 1940s in which tenants are part owners and the tenancy can be sold after sharing a part of the proceeds with the landlord. Unlike a regular rental property, where a tenant pays a deposit while moving in, in a Pagdi system, the tenant pays 60-75% of the market price to the property owner and…

Late in May one afternoon, R Ramkumar, a 63-year-old resident of Madipakkam, felt seriously indisposed when he started experiencing mild dizziness without any warning signs. Hospitals were teeming with COVID patients at this time, and the family did not want to expose the senior citizen to unnecessary risk. After brief deliberation on the matter, they decided to go for teleconsultation with a doctor and did so through Practo, a medical portal that connects patients with doctors for meeting various healthcare needs. Upon the doctor’s advice, the family did an instant blood glucose level test with the equipment available at home.…

Hunger has stalked Maiduna Begam and her four children for the past 16 months. Except for a brief period after the first unlock last year, Maiduna’s husband, a mason’s helper, has been jobless for most of this period and lost his mother as they could not afford proper medical treatement.  “We manage two meals a day with difficulty,” says Maiduna, who hails from Raichur. “We have not paid rent for three months, and our landlord is threatening to evict us”. Two weeks ago, she found work as helper at a tailoring shop, but the job pays only around Rs 4,000…

Thanks to the pandemic, traditional big fat Indian weddings have now become small, muted family events. As social distancing and restriction of movement became the norm in the COVID era, weddings changed too. Many couples have still gone ahead with their matrimonial plans over the past few months, and more plan to tie the knot in the weeks and months ahead but even they must adhere to the current COVID protocol for weddings as laid down by the states.  Even though lockdown norms have been eased in Chennai, things are not entirely back to the old normal. Citizens must be…

In many communities, the pandemic brought about a desperate need for a resource essential to survival: clean drinking water. Mumbai-based volunteers from the Ismaili Civic, a wider movement run by the Ismaili Muslim community globally, played a crucial role in the city by delivering water during the pandemic, earning praise both from doctors and the state government.  In early June 2020, they began distributing clean drinking water to COVID19 centres, first to larger hospitals and then to smaller ones (which had cropped up due to increasing cases), continuing through the deadly second wave, supplying close to 40,000 litres of water…