‘Unfortunately, it took a pandemic for immunity to become a buzzword’ – 20 quotes from India’s COVID-19 struggle

Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YourStory Media, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week. This special series of compilations focuses on India’s COVID-19 struggle (see last week’s post here). Share these quotes and excerpts with your networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights.

The pandemic has forced us to create a room for unprecedented occurrences. This will be in the form of a Plan B, which could be having a second business strategy in place or doing a necessary pivot subjected to the circumstances. - Vaibhav Jain, Hubilo

The recovery of our economy depends on the informal sector. - Rahil Rangwala, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation

The pandemic will make the reskilling challenge more daunting. Its effects will fall heaviest on the most vulnerable workers. - Anu Madgavkar, MGI

We'll get back to travelling, but it will still be a mix. What we now have is an acceptance that the newer method of doing things is okay. - Sandeep Murthy, Lightbox Ventures

After being stuck indoors for nearly one year, coming out of the pandemic, we are seeing trends of revenge consumption. - Ankit Mehrotra, Dineout

It has been a very difficult time, especially for artists who are so strongly dependent on social interactions. - Divya Deepika Jannu, chitra santhe

Since the coronavirus outbreak, AI has been adopted for automated healthcare services, laboratory drug discovery, prediction, alerts, screening, and faster diagnosis. - Karan Chopra, Hospido

Things have changed since the lockdown. Tier II cities are showing a growing acceptance of technology and its use in their daily lives. - Able Joseph, Aisle

The reality is that online and technology are now here to stay. - Padmaja Ruparel, IAN Fund

Massive digital adoption among retailers and manufacturers during the pandemic also resulted in the demand going up as the unlock happened. - Kumar Saurabh, Udaan

Pre-COVID-19, building an acceptance for the online mode of learning and breaking the traditional barriers was a major challenge. - Deepak Goyal, YSchool

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OTT is one of the very few industries to have benefited from the pandemic. In the absence of original content on linear broadcast medium, there has been a significant off take in the subscription and consumption of OTT content. - Balkrishna Hari Singh, Frenzi

During the pandemic, we saw first hand, how location-based intelligence and actions like geofencing became important to tackle the spread of the virus and manage medical resources. - Rajit Bhattacharya, Data Sutram

After the COVID-19 crisis, the need for self-driving vehicles and an automated delivery system has become even more important. - Saiman Shetty, Nuro

The COVID-19 outbreak led to a perfect storm, with demand destruction, supply chain disruption and funding market dislocation. However, the resilience of entrepreneurs meant that startups navigated this crisis rather well and many companies have come out stronger - Ashish Sharma, Innoven capital

While work from home is fabulous for work-life balance, it can lead to many fitness issues in individuals. - Pratik Sud, Synq.fit

People stayed at home during the COVID-19 imposed lockdown and enjoyed cooking. The cooking-at-home increased, and so the demand for spices. - Vijay Prasad, Annapoorna Masalas

Almost 70 percent of your immunity is situated within your gut. - Deepa Kannan, PFNR

People do care about their health. Now they know what not being healthy can mean...These are some things that COVID-19 has changed across the world. - Geetha Manjunath, Niramai

Unfortunately, it took a pandemic for immunity to become a buzzword. - Luke Coutinho

YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).