Initiatives that saved tens of thousands of lives during Covid-19.

Many peopleIndiaThey have joined hands with the government to deal with the wave.Covid-19The second wave is spreading disease and death across the country. Hospitals, testing facilities, and even crematoriums are overwhelmed, while vaccines are in short supply.

Indian authorities wasted time during the winter lull in the pandemic, allowing the second wave to surge uncontrollably. But in that situation, ordinary citizens, charities, private companies, and even elderly retirees joined the fight, offering unique initiatives to mitigate the crisis.

Devendra, a 38-year-old teacher in rural Jharkhand state, became a hero after receiving a distress call from a friend in Delhi 1,400km away. He scoured his state searching for an oxygen tank and then drove off hoping to deliver the precious gift in time.

Meanwhile, on social media networks like Twitter and WhatsApp, thousands of people readily responded to pleas for help finding hospital beds, oxygen tanks, or simply money to pay medical bills. Many active volunteers aggregated such requests and offers, allowing browsers to match needs with available help by topic and location.

These efforts are sometimes local in nature. For example, after witnessing the difficulties his 80-year-old father faced in the hospital, Vishal Singh – who owns a chain of private schools – established a free, fully equipped Covid-19 care center for local residents.

Pascal and Rozy Saldanha, a middle-class couple in Mumbai, sold all their personal jewelry to buy oxygen tanks to donate to their impoverished neighbors. Residents in South Delhi are spreading the word about a mysterious Food Man who travels the streets handing out food to the hungry.

Other initiatives are more systematically organized. Khaana Chahiye was founded last year to help migrant workers forced to leave Mumbai when the lockdown caused them to lose their jobs. The group started by setting up roadside kitchens to provide a warm meal for those who had to walk hundreds, even thousands of kilometers, back to their hometowns.

Over the past year, Khaana Chahiye has served approximately 4.6 million meals, thanks to a team of over 200 volunteers, and has now expanded to many slums in the city.

Longer-established charities have also shifted their focus to the fight against Covid-19. Almost every Sikh temple, from the smallest to the largest, operates a regular cooking kitchen. Some charities, including the Hemkunt Foundation, have also opened centers outside Delhi to provide free oxygen to those in need.

Indian tycoons are also getting involved. Azim Premji – India's biggest tech mogul and philanthropist – donated around $1 billion to charity last year, either directly or through his companies, with $150 million of that going towards Covid-19 research and relief.

Other entrepreneurs raised approximately $10 million almost overnight for Mission Oxygen to purchase as many oxygen concentrators as possible overseas and ship them to Indian hospitals. Within a week, the group was able to import the first machines and had already ordered another 1,300.

The desperate situation of Covid-19 patients being forced to knock on the doors of hospitals in New Delhi seeking treatment prompted a lesson from authorities in Mumbai. They implemented a centralized, efficient triage system to allocate beds to patients.

Meanwhile, in Nandurbar, a tribal district in northern Maharashtra, one of India's hardest-hit states, local officials studied what was happening elsewhere in the world and poured all their limited resources into preparing for a second wave. His team focused particularly on equipping local hospitals and training medical staff.

If such efforts were replicated across India, they would save tens of thousands of lives.