In numbers: DW's coverage on COVID-19 in India

After two months of lockdown and stringent protocols to mitigate the violent spread of COVID-19 in India, cities such as the capital New Delhi and financial hub Mumbai have started easing these measures amid falling infection levels. 

DW provided in-depth and extensive coverage across all its platforms and language services namely Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and English. From TV and online reports, interviews and analysis to web videos and picture galleries, DW's coverage played a vital role in putting a spotlight on the health crisis in India. DW's Asia Desk also took into account the social, political and economic aspects of COVID–19 to inform a global audience about the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis in the south Asian country. 

The coverage explored the second wave of the crisis that brought India to its knees, asking questions such as: how did the situation in India get to that point? What role does the delta variant of the coronavirus play? Is the promised international aid effectively addressing the country's needs?

These topics also generated great interest across all DW platforms. On Facebook, related videos garnered over 6 million video views and close to 5 million minutes watched in this period, particularly on the Urdu, Indonesia, Espanol, Kiswahili, News and Hindi accounts.

"The city went through a sense of collective trauma," says DW's Delhi Bureau Chief Amrita Cheema on the crisis. "Working during this period was very challenging, several of our colleagues got infected with COVID-19 and almost everyone lost loved ones during this time," she shares.

Reports from the studio illustrated the magnitude of the crisis, while scientific articles offered background information and explanation on the rapid rise in infection figures complete with personal accounts from healthcare workers. The reporting also showed there was criticism of the authorities' handling of the second wave. This content generated over 700,000 page impressions on DW's websites.

As India slowly reopens its cities, there is some concern whether this is the right move. But what is clear is that the people of India want to make sure they are not caught unprepared should the country be hit by a third wave.