Varanasi’s interreligious group organizes blood donation for Covid victims

By Matters India Reporter

Varanasi: Amid the gloom of rising Covid-19 death, Christians, Hindus and Muslims on April 19 came together to organize a series of blood donation camps in Varanasi, a major city in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Opening the first camp in St. Mary’s Convent in Varanasi Cantonment, local Catholic Bishop Eugene Joseph said that to save the lives of others is the most important and sacred responsibility of every citizen.

The camps were organized by the Varanasi unit of the Conference of Religious of India, an organization of Catholic men and women religious, in collaboration with Manav Rakt (Human Blood) Foundation led by Abu Hashim, and Popular Blood Bank led by Doctor Somesh.

Father Anand Mathew, a dialogue activist in the city, said that as Christians and as religious it is our duty to follow the model of Jesus Christ, who from the cross shed his blood and saved the humankind. With the same love and compassion, we need to save the victims of Covid pandemic.

Jesuit Father Louis Prakash, another organizer, said that similar blood donation camps will be organized at St Mary’s Hospital and Vishwa Jyoti Gurukul, Christ Nagar on April 22 and 23.

Bishop Eugene felicitated the first camp’s donors by giving certificates and medals.

Sister M Shruti Puthukkattuparambil, the provincial of the Missionary Sisters of the Queen of the Apostles, made the arrangements for the first blood donation camp along with Sisters Alphonsa Gratian and Rosy.

Meanwhile India’s Covid-19 cases tally crossed the 15 million mark on April 18. The country has so far reported a total of 15,058,019 cases and 178,793 deaths.

The country registered 275,196 new Covid-19 cases as of 11:30 pm on April 18, the highest single-day rise. As many as 1,620 deaths were also recorded.

The thehindu.com sourced the data from covid19india.org, an independent aggregator of daily COVID-19 figures,

Maharashtra reported 68,631 infections, accounting for nearly 25 percent of the new cases, on April 18, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 30,566 new infections and Delhi with 25,462 new cases.

As many as 1,566,394 samples were tested in India on April 17 (results of which were made available on April 18), the highest number of tests conducted in a single day in the country.