Indian Teens Fight Pandemic With Apps, Oxygen: "Calls Don't Stop At 3 am"

As the government struggles to tackle the pandemic, young Indians have stepped into the breach, setting up apps to crowdsource aid, delivering key supplies and using social media to direct resources to people in need.

Her exam revision done, schoolgirl Swadha Prasad gets on with her real work: finding life-saving oxygen, drugs and hospital beds for Covid-19 patients as India reels from a brutal second wave of infections. As the government struggles to tackle the pandemic, young Indians have stepped into the breach, setting up apps to crowdsource aid, delivering key supplies and using social media to direct resources to people in need. Ms Prasad works with dozens of volunteers -- all aged between 14 and 19 -- as part of the youth-led organisation UNCUT, building online databases packed with information about medical resources available across the country. It is a 24/7 operation, with the teenagers constantly on their phones as they verify the availability of supplies, update information in real-time and field calls from frantic relatives.