Braving Covid risks, Indian volunteers tend to the sick and the dead

Volunteers say they have been moved to act by desperate pleas for help on social media and in their local communities.

Every day after he wraps up the online classes he teaches at a Bengaluru college, Akshay Mandlik puts on his mask, gloves and overalls and heads out to help bury the COVID dead.
 

The 37-year-old professor of social work is one of many citizen volunteers across India who have stepped up to help families affected by the country's devastating second wave, often risking their own personal safety.
 

Mandlik helps grieving relatives find burial spaces, carry the dead and even dig graves when no gravedigger is available.

"I took some time to think about getting involved as I am not vaccinated, but