“The web app that was launched in March 2020 was active till mid-August. After that, people were not looking for such information. Last week, we saw a spike in the number of COVID cases and how the devastating second wave is affecting millions across the world. I knew that people will again need information and decided to reactivate the web app with more details on Thursday. Last year’s information was focused on what one needs to know about COVID-19, but this year’s info is more about how one can get help and from where to get it. The biggest addition is the home-delivered meal details. Murshitha Sheereen and Harshni are gathering information on people who are willing to deliver homecooked meals. I source verified information from them and place it in the web app under the food delivery section. We have been receiving very good response for the food delivery service. The app has 22,000 plus users and more than 1.3 lakh views on the information page,” says Shyam.

He gets the information from the Tamil Nadu government, Chennai Corporation and a few journalists. “One of the new additions in the app is the mental health helpline service. We have categorised if the services are free or not. It takes 4-5 hours a day to collect and verify the information. I take help from my Tedx team and volunteers whom I know personally,” he adds.

After Murshitha Sheereen shared details on Instagram about food delivery, interested home chefs started contacting her. “There are two categories — one is vendors and the other is people who are willing to send out two or three meals per day. We gather all the information and verify them and then only add them in the portal. We also reach out to home cooks once in three days to check their capacity to serve the customers. We don’t want to trouble them with more orders. If anyone wants to join, they can send us a message on Instagram and we will take it ahead,” says Murshitha.