Virtual memorial for those killed by Covid-19 in India

The last time Mr Prasun Ghatak saw his wife alive was when she bid him farewell on June 18 last year, four days after their wedding. Mr Ghatak, an employee with a major construction firm, was leaving for the airport in Kolkata, on his way to rejoin work in Hyderabad.

The next time he saw her, around a month later, his wife Soumi Saha was in a body bag at a morgue in a Kolkata suburb and he was in a protective suit to shield him from the virus that had snatched her away.

Mr Ghatak, 35, was not allowed to see his wife when she was in the intensive care unit battling Covid-19. His wife's body, which was not even returned to him, was cremated by the authorities - a practice that began in the early months of the pandemic to avoid further spread of the infection. All he got was a "cremation certificate" for Ms Saha, also 35, that the police left at his residence.

Sad over not being able to mourn her death properly, Mr Ghatak chose to commemorate his wife online when an opportunity came along through the National Covid Memorial (NCM).

"She will not return but at least her memory will remain alive, even if only digitally," Mr Ghatak told The Straits Times, describing his wife as "someone so true and beautiful, someone so loving, someone so appealing, someone so amazing" in his online tribute.

Unveiled on Jan 30, the first anniversary of the day India registered its first Covid-19 case, the virtual memorial seeks to remember those India has lost to the disease and, over time, create an online archive where people can learn more about the pandemic's impact.

As of Sunday, the country had recorded 154,996 deaths, the world's fourth-highest tally.

The portal brings to life stories of loss and suffering behind the statistics. It was developed by the Covid Care Network (CCN), a Kolkata-based volunteer group set up last June to support patients affected by Covid-19 and their families.

Dr Abhijit Chowdhury, the CCN's mentor and a professor of hepatology at the Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research in the city, said: "People were frightened, their helplessness evident at every stage."

He recalled scenes of people waving to their loved ones being wheeled into ambulances, unsure if they would ever see them again.

Dr Chowdhury likened the pandemic to an "undeclared third world war" and the NCM to a war memorial that seeks to "restore social dignity" to the dead.

The memorial has been receiving around 10 tributes daily and those sending in an entry need to include a death certificate that mentions Covid-19 as the cause of death. It has close to 100 entries so far.

One entry is from Mr Dipankar Hazra, who mourns the death of his relative Bishwanath Majhi, a homeopathic practitioner, on Sept 16. Mr Hazra wrote that at a time when many doctors stopped seeing patients, "leaving them in distress and helpless, Dr Majhi showed the light to many". Mr Hazra added: "He went around helping people and treating them."