India coronavirus dispatch: Social measures to raise public consciousness

From risk stratification approach, to a game-changing vaccine, and what precautions you should take when visiting a shop – read these and more in today’s India dispatch

Here’s a round-up of important coronavirus-related articles from across Indian publications. From risk stratification approach, to a game-changing vaccine, and what precautions you should take when visiting a shop – read these and more in today’s India dispatch

Citizens Under Lockdown

NGO feeds 30,000 slum dwellers daily during lockdown: The Mumbai Roti Bank (MRB), a non-governmental organisation, founded by Sivanandan in January 2018, has tied up with the Mumbai Police to ensure that the city’s daily-wage earners and the poor living in areas like Dharavi, a containment zone, do not go without food. Read more here.

Covid lockdown takes a toll on India’s red-light areas: Most residents of red-light areas live in cramped quarters, with poor sanitation and often no running water, ruling out social distancing and other hygiene measures that are supposed to contain the virus. Should a case of Covid-19 be detected in these areas, it would spread like wildfire, social workers as well as residents of red-light districts fear. Read more here.

Long Reads

Essential outreach services hit in states with worst health indicators: Six of the eight most socioeconomically backward Indian states — together called the empowered action group — which have among the highest infant and maternal mortality rates have discontinued health outreach services during the lockdown, multiple government and media reports show. Immunisation, antenatal checks (ANCs) and nutrition drives have been halted in all these states except Odisha, which continues apace, and Uttarakhand, which has kept its immunisation services open. Read more here.