With no sporting action going on around the country (or most of the world) due to the coronavirus pandemic, Indian football player CK Vineeth is donning a new role in his hometown of Kannur in Kerala: volunteering at a call centre.
The Jamshedpur FC player, who has played for Kerala Blasters and Bengaluru FC previously, has volunteered for ten days at the Covid-19 assistance centre set up by the Mangattidum district panchayat where he answers calls for essentials from residents and coordinates delivery.
“When a crisis strikes, we can either sit back or do our part,” Vineeth told ESPN India, on his current volunteering stint. “My state and my district [Kannur] are affected and I just didn’t want to be the person watching from the sidelines.”
With more than 60 confirmed cases, Kannur is the second-most affected district in Kerala where the pandemic has been contained over the past few days. As part of an outreach model set up by the Kerala State Sports Council, the centre is in charge of delivering essential supplies within 24 hours after procuring them from local supermarkets.
“This is a team sport at the moment. No one can do it on their own. I owe my career as a footballer to the people. This is my way of giving it back. And believe me, this is a very small contribution really,” he told Times of India.
Over 200 Covid-19 patients have now died in India, out of 6,761 positive cases until Friday evening. The number of patients who have recovered crossed the 500 mark. By Friday morning, the global number of Covid-19 cases worldwide crossed 16 lakh, and over 95,000 patients have died.
The national helpline number for the coronavirus is 011-23978046, and a toll-free number 1075.
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