Rotary Club, Deccan Herald join forces to fight Covid-19

The Rotary Club of Bangalore has begun a new initiative to spread awareness on the basic measures to fight Covid-19, even as it continues to work with the government and other organisations at the ground level to fight the pandemic.

The initiative, ‘Follow SMS’, is being taken up in association with DH and stresses on the need for sanitisation, mask-wearing and social distancing (SMS).

It urges the public not to ignore the seriousness of the situation in the wake of relaxations provided by the government’s Unlock measures.

Vincent Raj, president of the Rotary Club of Bangalore, said all the 275 members of the club have been actively involved in promoting the Follow SMS initiative.

“We have joined hands with DH to take the message of SMS to a larger society.

“In the absence of a medicine or vaccine, SMS is the only shield we have against Covid. We may not be able to eliminate the disease, but we can save ourselves and others, which is very crucial to fight this pandemic,” Raj said.

He said the Rotary district, which consists of 125 clubs and about 6,600 members, has been playing a key role in spreading the mantra of
SMS.

“We are actively working to identify vulnerable people and help them by distributing masks and sanitisers.”

“Within the club, members who run business establishments have implemented SMS and spread the word to their customers and clients,” he said.

As part of Follow SMS, members of the club visited Commercial Street along with the president of the local traders and supplied free masks to all shop vendors, assistants, parking ticket sellers and security guards.

Rotary has been working with the government in upgrading seven primary healthcare centres, opening a Covid Care Centre in Peenya and highlighting the plight of social minorities.