IIT Hyderabad has come forward and has reached the five villages adopted under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan with an aim to protect them and spread awareness about coronavirus.

For workers employed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, IIT Hyderabad has come up with the procedure to produce face masks or MNREGA, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A WhatsApp group has been created for Panchayat Secretaries, ASHA workers, ANM and self-help group leaders, and farmers, IIT Hyderabad informed.

“We are in constant touch with all the secretaries over the phone and they have been asked to reach us in case of any difficulty in the present situation. 

We have also reached out to the regional coordinating Institute-- NIRDPR who is also coordinating activities towards this pandemic,” the statement by IIT Hyderabad added. 

“Brochures, videos, and other informative material related to COVID-19 have been shared through this group. We have translated some of the brochures sent by the coordinating institute in Telugu to be shared with the village members,” IIT Hyderabad said in a statement.

IIT Hyderabad also informed that it had hosted a web meeting with all the participating institutes of NIRDPR and the coordinating institute IIT Delhi, on April 13.

According to information on the official website, the institute is also working in the fields of “remote monitoring”, “visual surveillance”, “transportation”, etc., during the COVID-19 pandemic; apart from relief programmes for villages adopted under UBA

The state of Telangana has reported more than 1900+ coronavirus positive cases, according to the state government.

Recently, an IIM Lucknow survey revealed that the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 lockdown is the biggest source of worry for the country.

Most people are not worried about the virus, but the “economic impact it is likely to cause in the near future,” according to the survey.