01 May,2021 05:54 AM IST | Mumbai | Pallavi Smart
Screenshots of some earlier videos busting hoaxes about COVID-19 by ISRC
A group of scientists have come together to provide answers to several queries about COVID-19 in multiple Indian languages. The idea is to break the flow of misinformation by providing verified facts in peoples' mother-tongues for better understanding. The organisation Indian Scientists' Response to COVID-19 (ISRC) will be holding a live interaction with scientists on YouTube every Saturday, starting from one in Marathi on the occasion of Maharashtra Day on May 1.
With the second wave of the pandemic and vaccination drive running simultaneously, there is great level of misinformation among people of India. Common queries like can one take the vaccine during the menstrual cycle? Will I get infected after being vaccinated? Is Remdesivir saving the lives of patients? To what are the differences between different types of vaccines? etc. are getting incorrect answers in addition to misinformation on social media. While one team of ISRC is working on debunking several hoaxes around COVID, the other has taken up the responsibility of providing scientifically correct answers to several such questions.
The live videos will begin with interactions with the scientists, where the medium of instruction will be Marathi this Saturday. The forum will then also address questions posted in the YouTube chat by viewers. After Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam and Hindi will follow respectively on the coming Saturdays of May 8, 15 and 22.
Aniket Sule, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education
"There are a lot of resources (both national and international) already available in English when it comes to resolving several such queries. We should extend this knowledge to people who can't understand due to limitations of language," explained Aniket Sule, astrophysicist and science educator at the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education who will be part of the first live interaction on Saturday May 1. He added, "The idea behind ISCR is that the Indian scientific community should help society in any way possible to make this pandemic more bearable. It can be done in many ways. One of our teams is developing models which can explain the spread of the virus while there are others developing tracking apps or creating info-graphical books to spread knowledge."
There are around 500 scientists from reputed science institutes who have come together under ISCR with the purpose to help society amid the pandemic. Their efforts began last year in May 2020 starting from initiatives to bust hoaxes about the outbreak. Those videos were done in 11 Indian languages. "Then everything was so new, including the line of treatments. But now not only is the situation is different, we also have a better idea on what exactly works. This is why ISCR decided to redo such live interactions in multiple Indian languages," elaborated Sule.
