'Amid looming coronavirus threat, people in Kashmir are frantically searching on Google to find out information on Covid-19, but the low-speed internet comes in way. After the closure of the schools and colleges in the wake of coronavirus scare, the students find it hard to study online, courtesy low speed internet... A senior doctor from SMHS on the basis of anonymity said that “Kashmiris are furiously Googling to seek information about coronavirus, but unfortunately the law speed mars them.”...
'Even as state governments are working at war-footing to identify active cases and contain the novel coronavirus in India, one section of people, while indispensible, continue to remain more vulnerable to the disease: civic workers and those engaged in solid waste management. Activists in Bengaluru are advocating for fair work conditions for pourakarmikas – the city’s civic workers – and allege that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is not doing enough to protect these workers who are responsible for maintaining everyday health and hygiene in the city...'
'On 15 March, the Indian Council of Medical Research convened a meeting with national health experts about the rising cases of COVID-19 in the country, and the way forward for the healthcare system to address the growing crisis. “I know for a fact that India does not have testing kits,” a public-health expert who attended the meeting told me, on the condition of anonymity.
'...But for regular labourers and migrant workers, life has become miserable as they have no option but to sit quietly without wages. Many were seen travelling to other states in search of work as they don’t get enough opportunities here. Kalia Jena of Kendrapara who travelled to Vishakapatnam for work said, “I have to work daily to feed my family. There is no one to give money or compensation to them.” Alok Lal of Bihar, who stays at a roadside shanty at Rasulgarh, said people are not giving jobs to him fearing they will catch corona virus due to my poor condition...'
'Following the nationwide alarm over the spread of the Covid-19 infection from the Tablighi Jamaat meeting in Old Delhi last week, 18 men who took part in that meeting voluntarily went to the medical authorities in Chennai on Tuesday to have themselves tested. It was reported in the media later that they all tested positive. The tests never took place. The 18 men from Medavakkam and Pallikaranai, according to a video clip posted in Facebook by one of them on Wednesday, were taken to the Chengalpattu Government Hospital and made to wait the whole day.
