Unsung Corona Warriors Series: ASHA workers tracing COVID in containment zones

Hundreds of ASHA workers like 39-year-old Sanju track down suspected COVID-19 patients in Delhi. She lives in Central Delhi’s Nabi Kareem.

Several lanes of the densely populated locality have the bare minimum of sanitation facilities and remained containment zones for the longest time.

A large group of residents living here are migrant workers. Their fluctuating population adds to the challenges faced by health workers like Sanju.

Her 14-year-old son Jatin remains concerned about Sanju’s safety. He said that the COVID duty has brought about a sense of distance between them.

Jatin said that the pandemic has increased his mother’s working hours and even when she returns home the family cannot interact with her directly.

[Watch Unsung Corona Warriors Part 1 and Part 2]

Even when the risks were high, ASHA workers had to carry out their hours-long duty inside the containment zones or the red zones. Sanju said they were not provided with personal protective equipment (PPE).

These unsung COVID warriors face security threats as well. Sanju and her aides told Asiaville that they were verbally harassed by residents in certain parts of the locality who accused them of carrying out a survey for the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the name of corona tracing.

While these ASHA workers are putting their lives on the line in the name of duty for these COVID tracing surveys, they only get an extra remuneration of Rs 1000.

Meet Sanju – an unsung corona warrior: