Answering Covid queries, 24x7

At the Sarathi 104 helpline centre, run by the Piramal Swasthya group in partnership with the Government of Assam and National Health Mission (NHM), there are around 90 like Hazarika — young paramedics and counsellors, who are working round-the-clock to answer Covid-19 medical queries. This isn’t the only one — in states across the country, helplines have sprung into action since the outbreak. In Assam, which reported its first COVID-19 case only on March 31, the helpline saw its busiest day on April 2, when it received a record number of 9,000 calls on a single day. Set up in 2010, the helpline functions as a medical information facility. But when the pandemic took over in March, it turned into a dedicated coronavirus query facility.