Five Years After India’s COVID Crisis: Journalists Reflect
As India marks five years since its first COVID-19 lockdown, BBC journalists share harrowing experiences from the pandemic’s peak. The nation faced an unprecedented healthcare crisis, with the World Health Organization estimating over 4.7 million deaths—nearly ten times the official count. Journalists recount their struggles to report on the crisis while becoming part of the stories they covered, highlighting the human toll of the pandemic.
The Desperate Search for Oxygen
In the summer of 2021, as India grappled with a devastating second wave of COVID-19, BBC journalist Soutik Biswas received a frantic call from a woman in Delhi. Her husband was battling the virus in a hospital where oxygen was scarce. The urgency of her plea—“Oxygen, oxygen, can you get me oxygen?”—echoed the desperation felt across the city.
Delhi was at the epicenter of the crisis, where the demand for oxygen far exceeded supply. Biswas and his team worked tirelessly, making calls and sending messages in hopes of finding help. The woman’s husband’s oxygen levels had plummeted dangerously low, and despite a small victory in securing an oxygen flow meter, the grim reality was evident. Reports of patients dying while waiting for beds became all too common. The city was engulfed in despair, with basic necessities like oxygen and medicine becoming luxuries.
The situation felt like a war, and the toll was staggering. Families were left to fend for themselves in a system that had collapsed under pressure, with many succumbing to the virus due to a lack of resources.
A Heart-Wrenching Reality
Yogita Limaye, another BBC journalist, vividly recalls the chaos outside Delhi’s GTB hospital. Families were desperate, pleading for medical attention as loved ones lay on stretchers, some never receiving care. The second wave of COVID-19 hit without warning, catching the government unprepared despite earlier claims of victory over the virus.
Limaye witnessed the frantic efforts of medical staff as they scrambled for oxygen supplies. The sight of funeral pyres burning simultaneously in the April sun was haunting. The emotional toll was immense, with many journalists personally affected by the crisis. Limaye’s own family faced the virus, and the grief of losing loved ones became a shared experience among her colleagues.
The pandemic’s impact was felt deeply, with many journalists grappling with the loss of friends and family while reporting on the unfolding tragedy.
Personal Struggles Amidst the Crisis
Vikas Pandey, another BBC reporter, described the pandemic as the hardest assignment of his life. Friends and family reached out daily for help with oxygen, hospital beds, and medicines. One particularly heart-wrenching story involved a man named Altuf Shamsi, who lost both his father and wife to COVID-19 within days.
Pandey’s own relatives faced dire situations, with one needing an experimental drug that was hard to procure. Despite his efforts, he lost a cousin due to a lack of available ventilators. The helplessness he felt during these moments was overwhelming, as he questioned whether he could have done more to save lives.
The Fear of the Unknown
Geeta Pandey, another journalist, shared her experience during the initial lockdown. The streets of Delhi were eerily quiet, with only police present to enforce restrictions. As millions of migrant workers sought to return home, the fear of the virus loomed large.
Pandey’s personal struggles mirrored those of many others. She was unable to visit her bedridden mother due to fears of transmission. The hope for a vaccine became a beacon of light, but the loss of her mother shortly after the rollout was a painful reminder of the pandemic’s unpredictability.
Lingering Questions and Unresolved Pain
Anagha Pathak, a reporter for BBC Marathi, recounted a moment that left a lasting impression. While documenting the impact of the lockdown, she encountered a pregnant woman and her husband walking home after being stranded in Mumbai. Pathak felt helpless as COVID protocols prevented her from offering them a ride. Five years later, she still wonders about the fate of that couple. The emotional scars of the pandemic remain, as many journalists continue to grapple with the memories of loss and helplessness experienced during those harrowing months.
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