Coronavirus - First Wave
In late March 2020, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government imposed a strict nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus, shutting down all transport and most businesses.
By September, India surged past Brazil to become the world’s second worst-hit country, with its economy in deep trouble because of the lockdown.
Through this period, I have filed daily updates, short pieces, and deeply reported stories to explain the impact of the virus on India.
Along with my colleagues, Saurabh Sharma and Subrata Nagchoudhury, I won the South Asian Journalists Association 2021 awards in the health journalism category for some of these stories.
From factory to faraway village: behind India's mammoth vaccination drive
A COVID-19 vaccine was taken by plane, truck and van some 1,700 km from the factory to a clinic in a remote eastern district where a tribal health worker waited for her jab - and it had to be kept cold the whole way.
Full story here.
How a $13 device is helping Delhi fight the coronavirus
Delhi’s government has distributed pulse oximeters to more than 32,000 people for free, putting them at the heart of a plan to isolate most asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic coronavirus patients in their homes.
Full story here.
More patients than beds as India faces surge in virus cases
When Manit Parikh’s mother tested positive for the new coronavirus, she was rushed by ambulance to Mumbai’s private Lilavati Hospital, but officials told the family no critical-care beds were available.
Full story here.
Back to the fields. COVID smashes Indian middle-class dreams
Until late March, Ashish Kumar was helping to make plastic boxes for Ferrero Rocher praline chocolates. Once a provider for his family, now he has become a financial burden.
Full story here.
Vitriol and violence: A coronavirus death exposes paranoia in India
“I can’t understand how people can be so hateful,” Satyaki told Reuters from the United States. He was unable to return for his father’s last rites as restrictions in the wake of the pandemic made the journey impossible.
Full story here.
In city of Taj Mahal, coronavirus resurgence carries warning signs
It all began with a shoemaker who visited a trade fair in Italy, and then tested positive for the new coronavirus, becoming the first confirmed case in the northern Indian city of Agra.
The religious retreat that sparked India's major coronavirus manhunt
It was late on Sunday night when officials in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh received the alert. Federal authorities said they needed to track down more than 1,000 people linked to a large Muslim missionary gathering nearly 2,000 km away in the capital New Delhi.
Full story here.