Weapons against Covid-19 of Indian youth

Dressed in a blue protective suit, Jitender Singh Shunty sprays disinfectant on bodies at the Seemapuri crematorium in northeastern Delhi.

Dressed in blue protective gear and wearing a visor under a bright yellow turban, Jitender Singh Shunty sprayed disinfectant on bodies at the Seemapuri crematorium in northeastern Delhi. He had to act fast because bodies were delivered faster than cremation. The families and friends of those who have died, and those who are trying to find hospital beds and oxygen tanks to save their loved ones, are losing patience. “We are doing all we can to help families have a decent funeral for their loved ones,” he said as he rushed into another ambulance that had just arrived with two bodies. Since the beginning of April, when India suffered a second wave of the outbreak, Jitender Singh Shunty and his 20 volunteers were shocked by the large number of bodies brought in. “Last year we cremated 967 bodies, this month alone we cremated 670 bodies,” he said. Worldometers chart of the high number of infections in India as of May 10. About 20km from Seemapuri, New Delhi, dozens of people were gathering outside Waseem’s gas station. They all have the same question: When will the new oxygen tanks arrive? Waseem is committed to updating information on WhatsApp as soon as it is available. “People are dying from lack of oxygen so I thought I had to do something to help them,” Waseem said. “Someone told me that I would get sick if I kept going out and meeting so many people with Covid-19 relatives. I’m really scared, but if I don’t help them, I’ll be haunted for life.” Waseem added. Not alone As India is trying to find a way to deal with the pandemic, young men and women from all over the country do not hesitate to volunteer to contribute to the fight. They set up apps to solicit support and help, distribute key supplies, and use social media to direct resources to those in need. With two-thirds of its 1.3 billion population under the age of 35, India is a country dominated by young people, but young people have never been called upon to shoulder such enormous responsibilities. Photo: Times of India Swadha Prasad is working with dozens of volunteers – all between the ages of 14 and 19 – as part of the youth-led UNCUT organization, building an online database to gather information. about available medical resources across the country. This is 24/7, with teens constantly working over the phone to verify supplies, update information in real time, and take calls from patient relatives. “Some of us work from midnight to morning, because the calls don’t stop at 3 a.m.,” CNA quoted Prasad, a 17-year-old schoolgirl who worked 14 hours a day from noon the day before to 1 a.m. next morning. It was a long and tiring shift, but this Mumbai resident was still very enthusiastic. “If I could help save a life, I would never say No.” And many Covid-19 victims have been saved. Prasad cites an example where her team was able to deliver oxygen in the middle of the night, saving the life of a young patient desperately waiting for help. “It’s not just about providing resources… sometimes people want to know they’re not alone,” she said. The graph of Worldometers shows the correlation between the number of new infections (yellow) and the number of new recoveries (blue) in India as of April 30. Technology limitations However, in many small Indian towns and villages, technological limitations exacerbate the situation. Urgent requests for resources and spare hospital beds have spurred a large number of Twitter users. 25-year-old software engineer Umang Galaiya solved this problem by writing an app that makes it easy for users to find what they need, and directs their search to verified resources. But even so, his application cannot help many people living outside of big cities because the number of internet users is very small. “If I look for resources in Jamnagar, I get nothing on Twitter,” reflected the young man. And according to this male engineer, the pandemic cannot be controlled without the government. Simple measures still save many lives. For example, authorities could create an online bed registry, which updates automatically in real time, to save distressed patients from running back and forth knocking on the door of each treatment facility. According to the update of statistics page Worldometers, as of noon on May 12, India has recorded more than 23.3 million people infected with Covid-19 and about 254,200 deaths.