-The Hindu In videoconference addressing District Magistrates from 54 districts across 10 States, he said mutations had raised concerns for youth and children. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that empathy and resoluteness in the face of COVID-19 was essential while also flagging that mutations of the coronavirus had raised concerns for youth and children going ahead. Addressing a videoconference of District Magistrates from 54 districts across 10 States with Chief Ministers...

-CaravanMagazine.in As the Second wave of COVID-19 spreads to rural areas with minimal healthcare, villages across the Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh have been conducting a 21-day puja to ward off the virus. The puja involves worshipping and invoking the protection of local patron saints, collectively referred to as Dih Baba, and pacifying goddesses associated with epidemics, such as Sheetala Mata. “Hospitals are in terrible condition and there are no medicines,...

-The Hindu States, especially in the north, are facing the brunt of the Second wave, made worse by their poor health infrastructure When the first wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic hit the country, the central government imposed the strictest lockdown for almost two months. For most of the migrants stuck in urban areas without incomes, jobs and food to survive, the only escape was to walk back to the rural areas...

-Newslaundry.com 'What positivity do we look for in people's suffering?' “A 29-year-old man died in the hospital while his wailing wife and children waited outside,” Ronak Shah, a reporter for the Gujarati daily Sandesh said, recalling a tragedy he witnessed on April 12. “The three-year-old daughter kept saying, ‘My father is coming soon and we are here to take him home. I offered her a biscuit to eat, she did not take...

-The Hindu Only about 15% have been immunised outside urban areas, despite reporting over 60% of the cases Even as the second COVID-19 wave has showed signs of easing, the spread of cases into rural areas and the relatively lower vaccination numbers in rural India points to a burgeoning rural crisis. During the first wave (which peaked in September 2020), the COVID-19 cases started piling up in the urban areas initially and...