‘Hope can move mountains’ – 30 quotes from India’s COVID-19 struggle

Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YourStory, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week. This special series of compilations focus 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.

We are flying charters into India with oxygen concentrators and other essential supplies and can build more capacity on-demand. - Sahil Barua, Delhivery

We are urgently looking for avenues to import Oxygen Concentrators into India. - Shailendra Singh, Sequoia Capital

In Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, 20 Covid Care Coaches have been arranged by the Indian Railways, which will have 320 beds. - Railway Minister Piyush Goyal

The US Chamber strongly encourages the administration to release the millions of AstraZeneca vaccine doses in storage and other life-saving support, for shipment to India, Brazil, and other nations hard-hit by the pandemic. - Myron Brilliante, US Chamber of Commerce

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India lags far behind in immunisations per capita. The unprecedented crisis has highlighted the need to increase investment in the healthcare sector in the country. - Fitch Solutions

Many states such as Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh have already announced that the government will bear the cost of vaccination. - India Ratings and Research

We are the only country in the world where everybody gets a digital vaccination certificate immediately. - Nandan Nilekani, Infosys

Testing needs to reach people now. - Hasmukh Rawal, Mylab Discovery Solutions

We hope to reach and provide accessible high-quality healthcare to individuals and help subside the surge in cases. - Satish Kannan, MediBuddy

The second wave of COVID-19 is further fuelling the demand for hygiene products. - Sunil Srinivasan Chari, Rossari

The safety and wellbeing of our students and teaching faculty are of topmost priority and paramount importance. - Gerry Arathoon, CISCE

We believe technology adoption in the education sector is yet to see its peak and what started as a mad rush to adopt technology during the pandemic is likely to continue and sustain well beyond the pandemic years. - Charu Noheria, Practically

The pandemic forced almost everything to come to your home, including kids attending school at home and even the elderly ordering groceries home. - Gautam Balijepalli, Kouzina

The remote work culture is driving the growing inclination towards online schooling because of the global pandemic. With more parents now working from home, they are keen to monitor their child's education. - Santosh Kumar, 21K School

Learning that was previously carried out onsite must suddenly be done online using a digital platform that supports remote learning. – Elidjen, BINUS University

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The unprecedented events of 2020 have ushered in a generational cloud transformation for businesses, and data‘s increasing value is at the very heart of it. - Jaspreet Singh, Druva

COVID-19 has forced [Tier 2 and 3 city companies] to relook at their strategies and requirements, and get a digital makeover to survive and thrive in the ‘new normal.' - R S Maan, Codleo

Because of COVID-19, a lot of people who were initially opposed to online modes of protests are also participating. - Nimisha Agarwal, Jhatkaa.org

In the wake of the pandemic, small businesses need agile and easy digital payments solutions with simple onboarding processes and strong security protections so they can focus on building stronger and more omnichannel businesses. - Sandeep Malhotra, Mastercard

Just like the pandemic has made production houses warm up to OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, publishing houses are warming up to the idea of alternate reading formats. - Anushka Shetty, Plopnow

The pandemic and the subsequent remote-working environment has changed the way businesses function, with companies realising that it's the people that matter beyond the processes. - Raj N Phani, Zaggle

As the world still reels under the aftermath of the pandemic, a safe workplace is an assurance that returning to office is not akin to compromising health. - Praveen Rawal, Steelcase

The pandemic has created a higher awareness of risk in all aspects of financial services. - Milan Ganatra, 1Silver Bullet

The COVID-19 pandemic robbed people of their sense of financial security, and the working class populace took the worst hit. - Srividhya Ramarathnam, Findeed

With the pandemic escalating anxiety and other negative emotions, the value of music and music education was enhanced as people needed a creative outlet to vent themselves. - Tanuja Gomes, Furtados School of Music

Keep the consistency going, because the earth needs more thinkers and positive colours spreading around. - Humera Ali, MayinArt

Mental health has finally become part of our conversation in today’s time. As socialising came to a standstill in 2020, caring for our mental health became equally important to taking care of physical health. - Smita Bajoria, SK Bajoria Group

The pandemic has definitely taught us how quickly we are capable of adapting to changes. - Shivangi Mudgil, Appscrip

What is true of the individual will be tomorrow true of the whole nation if individuals will but refuse to lose heart and hope. - Mahatma Gandhi

It's not one person's initiative, it's everybody's — everybody who is sharing, who is trying to promote, who is trying to get the word out. - Rahul Aggarwal, Mission Oxygen

Turbulent times will make us weak, but one should never give up. After all, hope can move mountains. - Vidhya Iyer

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).