Researchers at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) have come together to create a set of multi-lingual resources explaining why social distancing is helpful for tackling viral outbreaks like COVID-19. It has been launched in nine languages English, Hindi, Bengali, Konkani, Marathi, Malayalam, Odia, Tamil and Telugu through volunteering efforts by faculties, families and students. “We are in the process of releasing videos in Gujarati, Punjabi, Haryanvi and Assamese as well. The idea is to help disseminate information to all pockets and provide information that is easy to understand, available in a regional language, and accessible to all. We hope they are used to spread awareness among people,” said scientist Arnab Bhattacharya. Along with TIFR’s medical division, Homi Bhabha Centre For Science Education has also started a website (covid-19-info.hbcse.tifr.res.in) to limit the “overload of unauthenticated as well as authenticated” information people are exposed to. “The website is an attempt to collate updated, useful, relevant, easy to read and authentic resources,” the website stated. The public outreach initiative by TIFR, titled ‘Chai and Why?’ a platform where scientists interact with the people will host an online session on COVID-19 on Sunday morning through its Facebook page to debunk misinformation and explain the science behind the virus. At IIT-Bombay, researchers have developed a webpage with updated districtwise data on the prevalence of detected cases in the country. Nearly 200 scientists associated with various organisations in the country have come together to help in debunking hoax messages related to COVID-19, which are doing rounds on social networking platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. They are from Institute of Mathematical Sciences Bengaluru, Indian Institute of Technology, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Ashoka University, National Centrefor Basic Sciences, Indian Instituteof Science Education and Research and Public Outreach and Education Committee of the Astronomical Society of India, among others. Called ‘Indian Scientists Response to Covid 19’, the voluntary group now has a twitter handle (IndSciCOVID) and a website (indscicov.in) as platforms to be used to communicate with the public. Sub-groups have been set up among members to create public awareness resources in Indian languages, phone apps for local support and mathematical modeling of the spread as well as exploring the idea of makeshift wards and busting myths about the virus.
