Q: How is the corona pandemic situation in Bhopal? How does the Church respond to it?

A: We are also in a hot-spot of the virus. There are three hotspots declared in M.P, Indore, Bhopal and Ujjain. We have cases, because there are people who move around, especially in areas that have international connectivity such as the airport. Some of our affected people have gone into hiding. There are pockets where Corona affected people do not reveal themselves. We are doing a lot of relief work. The Church is very much in prominence. We are collaborating with the government to spot some of the corona affected areas and survey them. Around fifty of our priests and nuns have visited more than three thousand and five hundred houses and contacted thirty-nine thousand people. The Government asked us to help them. After finishing the survey, they themselves had gone to contact the people living in quarantine. It was a risky task, but they were glad to do it. We are also providing people with food and provisions. Several of our arch-diocesan institutions like colleges prepare and distribute hundreds of packets of food every day. They are also making masks and some other protective gears. The Church is very much involved in relief work. Madhya Pradesh does not have a well oiled system for distributing provisions as you have in Kerala or Karnataka. The availability of provision is very little here. The government is providing something, but often the poorest people, particularly the migrants, are left with nothing. We have taken special care to reach them provisions. We have also made available our school buses to take people for corona check up and place them in quarantine.

Abp Leo Cornelio
Bhopal