A hearty choice

KOCHI: April 7 is observed globally as World Health Day. The day is especially relevant as the world has been fighting a pandemic since March last year.Kochi has also moved up the ‘eating out and ordering in’ ladder with options mushrooming across the city post pandemic

For Kochiites, like most of the people in the world, last year hasn’t been particularly healthy — mentally and physically. More eateries sprang up in the city post-pandemic for a crowd that prefers to order than go out. Besides, the lockdown brought everyone’s workout routine to a standstill. All this and the stress of economic and social changes have taken a toll on public health. 

Intrigued by the number of food delivery vehicles making their way through Kochi’s traffic to reach hungry customers, we spoke to the food safety officers in the city. They say that Covid and the subsequent lockdown has brought about a clear increase in demand for packed food.

“The big brands and new and small outlets are selling food to city residents. Post lockdown, many people who lost their jobs and returned from abroad also turned to small food businesses and cloud kitchens to make a living,” says P J Varghese, deputy commissioner of food safety, Ernakulam. “Packed home-cooked food was also in demand when people were locked indoors or in quarantine,” he says. 

Delivery services including Swiggy and Zomato marked high returns across the country during the lockdown. According to data, Swiggy noticed a similar trend with smaller cities like Kolkata, Kochi, Lucknow, Visakhapatnam, Guwahati and Mysuru, with their revenue doubling. Some Tier-II cities are also performing at 150% of pre-Covid levels, claimed the company executives. 

Topics
Covid-19 preventive measures
Covid vaccination
Communicable diseases
Lifestyle disease control and preventive measures
Good health practices#trollforhealth

HEALTHY HUMOUR 
Trolls and internet memes are the best new way to catch people’s attention. So, the District Medical Office, in association with National Health Mission, Ernakulam, is holding a troll competition on the below topics. You must like the Facebook page of District Medical Office Health. After posting your entry, mention #DMOHErnakulam. You may submit entries till April 30. The winners will be declared on May 16.