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Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YS, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week. This special series of compilations focus on India’s COVID-19 struggle (see last week’s post here). Share these quotes and excerpts with your networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights.

While vaccination is critical in saving lives, rural people have a lot of hesitation towards it. – Rama Rao Dammala, ChildFund India

There is plenty of evidence on how many vaccines are going to go to waste and the kind of economic burden that the government of India and the rest of the world are going to face because of poor temperature control with iceboxes. – Mayur Shetty, Blackfrog

The pandemic has shown that it’s something the world needs to continue to focus on, learn from it, and build more robust health systems. – Dr Himangi Bhardwaj, British High Commission

Telemedicine is growing at a monumental pace in India and the pandemic has only further amplified the importance of going digital. – Satish Kannan, MediBuddy

The current COVID-19 crisis in India underscores how deeply interconnected we all are. The need of the hour for a future-ready India is vaccinations. – Arundhati Bhattacharya, Salesforce India

With COVID-19, instructions keep changing dynamically, with new information often confirming the existing practices may not be the right protocol anymore. – Upasana Kamineni Konidela, URLife

COVID-19 has made the general public more conscious of hygiene and quality and made them more tech-savvy. – Raghav Arora, F5

Your fear of not wanting to go out to a gym or class is definitely warranted. But what matters is that you do find options for your fitness routine irrespective of our situation, as this might go on for some time. – Deepa Kannan, PFNR

So many people are living in a constant state of bereavement because of the pandemic. – Maimuna Majumder, Boston Children’s Hospital

We are seeing more patients with panic disorders – palpitations, restlessness, difficulties in breathing, and feelings of impending doom. – Dr Milan Balakrishnan

What’s different about the second wave is that people are experiencing grief, loss of a loved one, increased anxiety levels in taking care of loved ones who have Covid, and at the same time balancing their work in the middle of all this. – Puroitree Majumdar, YourDost

There is growing awareness about the importance of mental health. Especially in the backdrop of the pandemic, it is increasingly being treated with the same level of importance that has been accorded to physical health conventionally. – Ash Lilani, Saama Capital

Providing mandatory boundaries to the workday and minimising screen time, making vacations a compulsory requirement on a periodic basis will also help employees detox and reconnect with themselves. – Anita Belani, Emotionally.in

COVID-19 has become the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back when it comes to women’s exclusion from the labour force. – Mitali Nikore, Nikore Associates

We need robust child protection and social security system which has got seriously impacted due to COVID-19 pushing children into labour. – Puja Marwaha, CRY

The COVID-19 crisis threatens to further erode global progress against child labour unless urgent mitigation measures are taken. – ILO and UNICEF report

Vaccination is going to drive the tourism sector’s revival. – Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister for Tourism and Culture

The MSME sector, a critical backbone of India’s economy, has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. – Junaid Ahmad, World Bank

The pandemic-ridden year taught us that only companies with decisive leaders survive. – Will Poole, Unitus Ventures

Service at the doorstep is the new norm for all essentials. – Anup Jain, Orios Venture Partners

About 80 percent of the basket at the peak of the pandemic was fulfilled by kirana inventory. – Rohan Agarwal, RedSeer

After the pandemic flat-grounded the business scenario and led to widespread unemployment, India noticed a significant rise in gig jobs and freelance opportunities. – Simrita Dhillon, SANDA

The COVID-19 crisis has pushed the envelope in the rapid development of scalable and robust technologies. – Rajneesh Kumar, Flipkart

To survive, and indeed thrive, in the coming years, businesses will need to tap into the power of advanced tech infrastructure to streamline their operations. – Rahul Sharma, LogMeIn

India has approximately close to 550 million people with smartphones and access to mobile internet. Digital transformation is the way to go for banking and financial products, especially during the era of COVID-19. – Anuj Kacker, FREO

In recent times, the importance of technology in maintaining social connect and aiding in positive mental health has become paramount. Gaming has emerged as a wholesome activity that the entire family can participate and connect with friends and family. – Vickram Bedi, HP India

With the global pandemic completely changing the way companies operate, B2B transactions have gone more digital than ever before. – Hans Tung, GGV Capital

With the pandemic and the inevitability of transformation, AI technology has “flown” over [the] chasm, entered the mainstream, and is now getting industrialised within companies. – Ashwin Mittal, Course5

Tech will retain its importance, but the importance of touch, feel, and handmade will grow again once the pandemic wanes. – Nandita Abraham, GUS Global Services

While COVID-19 disruption has caused massive layoffs, it has also permitted people to identify themselves with an unconventional career option. – Rishi Chandiok, QNET

As we start witnessing welcome signs of recovery in the second COVID-19 wave, it is important that we plan and provide for any future exigencies. – Ramu Patchala, Huawei India

Staying connected to the community and caring – not descending into apathy or cynicism – will help us keep our eye on what is important. – Preethi Gopinath, Parsons, The New School

The past few months have been difficult and times like these, require us to step up and support one another. – Kalpesh R Parmar, Mars Wrigley India

The pandemic has been tough on millions of people and it’s only human to feel the need to extend help in any way possible. – Shreyas Srinivasan, Paytm Insider

YS has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).