-VillageSquare.in With lack of access to authentic information, myths and fears proliferate. Health workers counsel communities over phone, addressing their anxieties about the disease and the returned migrants As COVID-19 grips the entire world in its talons and affects communities across geographies, ethnicities, caste and class, a wave of misinformation is spreading, sparking fear. This wave seems to have overtaken the outbreak, and poses a threat that may be more harmful than...

Most reports and studies by official agencies, international think tanks and private entities indicate the cataclysmic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy and society. They anticipate that lockdowns imposed by various countries across the globe to reduce the exponential diffusion of COVID-19 (i.e. for flattening the curve by social distancing and quarantines) would adversely affect economic growth and disrupt supply chains in most sectors, on top of causing...

-RuralIndiaOnline.org ASHA workers in Haryana’s Sonipat district have been pushed to the frontlines of the fight against Covid-19 in a later-than-last-minute attempt to control a pandemic – with no safety gear and very little training Sonipat, Haryana: “Now, we must visit at least 25 households every day, each house at least four times in a month,” Sunita Rani says, “to survey for the coronavirus.” She has been making these rounds for over...

-The Hindu Guardians of students from Classes III to VIII to collect 3 kg of rice and 3 kg of potatoes. Kolkata: The West Bengal government will supply rice and potatoes for the month of April to students from Classes III to VIII of its schools, who are eligible for mid-day meals but are staying home due to the lockdown, in the wake of coronavirus (COVID-19). Guardians of these students will be...

-The Hindu Incidents spurred by propaganda campaigns by motivated people, they say New Delhi: The National Hawkers Federation, the National Coalition for Inclusive and Sustainable Urbanisation and a group of activists, academics and lawyers on Wednesday in a statement condemned the reported “discrimination against Muslim vendors” during the lockdown. “We are alarmed and disheartened to learn that hawkers continue to be intimidated and physically attacked in various parts of the country...These incidents seem...