“There is the fear of death, what if we die? What if we get this disease (coronavirus)? But fear will not fill our bellies, that is why we have to do this work.”

People from slums have been collecting scraps of plastic and other items at a towering landfill on the outskirts of New Delhi for years. Around $5 in daily earnings allows their children to go to school in search of a better future.

But over the past few months, biomedical waste has been piling up - a result, experts say, of the pandemic. Hundreds of people, including children, risk infection.

India has reported over 1.4 million coronavirus infections, exceeded only by the US  and Brazil. The country on Friday (July 24) recorded a total of 30,657 deaths among a population of 1.3 billion. 

Photos: Adnan Abidi / Reuters

Source:TRT World