Images and songs from the Covid-19 pandemic in India


Last update on 11 May 2022

The coronavirus (officially SARS-Cov-2) was identified in late 2019 and the resulting Covid-19 pandemic spread across the world through the months of 2020. 

India announced one of the most sudden and strictest lockdowns in the world on 25 Mar 2020. The objective was to 'break the chain' and 'flatten the curve' to slow the spread of the virus and stagger the load on the country's inadequate healthcare system.

In May 2022, WHO published a report that estimated that 4.7 million died due to Covid related causes in India. This is nearly 10 times the Indian government’s official count of 4.8 lakhs.

Images


Songs by businesses  

Many companies took the opportunity to put out songs and videos. Many showed empathy, some made appeals to contribute to their preferred charity, some simply promoted their agenda.




Songs of despair

But the lockdown had one unforeseen and devastating consequence. India has an estimated six crore migrant labourers who fan out from poor states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand and move across the country for work. 

The lockdown destroyed their livelihood. As construction, factories, and businesses shut without warning, these labourers lost their jobs. They neither had food nor could pay the rent. 

Faced with starvation and ruin, they chose to bolt to their villages. Since the trains and buses were not running, thousands of them began walking back to their villages hundreds of kilometres away. The resulting tragedy of these labourers braving hostile police and villagers en route, the scorching summer, and the dangers of the open road has been likened to the desperate migration during the 1947 partition of India.





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