As per media reports, Delhi logged fewer than thousand COVID-19 cases for the first time in seven weeks on July 20. Delhi heaved a momentary sigh of relief as the daily log of new COVID-19 cases fell below 1000 for the first time in July 2020, after a seven-week surge. However, other states and regions are still witnessing a surge in coronavirus positive cases. The only option, even before those states testing more than others, is to keep on testing.

The management of coronavirus pandemic has put enormous strain both on the government machinery as well as on all people all over the world. It calls for large-scale testing of the infected people, providing them informational, safety, psychological, medical and moral support, and ensuring that they are able to adjust with the society after their recovery and society is also supportive as they seek to rebuild their lives.

This month’s cover story dwells on the environmental, social, emotional, economic, and health-care related issues caused by the pandemic and the lockdown, as well as the challenges it has brought about for law enforcement agencies and for care givers. It also highlights that the immune system is affected by the environment the person lives in. Traditional knowledge and ancient wisdom, while not providing a cure for the coronavirus may be useful in enabling a public acceptance between an ailing and failing body. 

In this month’s feature article, ‘Predicting the Wave of COVID-19 in Communities’, the authors, while highlighting wastewater as an important monitoring tool in predicting the wave of COVID-19 in communities, say that the ongoing pandemic situation can be utilized to test whether wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) can act as an effective technique to observe and manage public health globally. WBE can be an important tool as most infections are thought to be asymptomatic or undiagnosed infections. WBE can provide critical knowledge on identification of hotspots and understanding the dynamics of the infection. Using reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) of the extracted RNA in wastewater from wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) would suggest if there is a chance of COVID-19 spread from the same WWTP. To curb the secondary impact on the well-being of any community during the recovery phase, safe management of sewage treatment plants, WWTPs and provision of WASH services are of highest importance. If not managed properly, particularly for endemic diseases the secondary impact can further increase the risk of spreading water-borne diseases.

We hope that you enjoy reading this issue of TerraGreen while staying healthy and safe while taking care of your loved ones. We all should strive to extend helping hand to others as much as possible in such challenging times. Helping the needy in such an hour of crisis will go a long way in bonding us together.