Guwahati: Veteran Odia journalist Vivekananda Dash, who used to contribute for the Organiser till 2004, died of Covid-19 complications on Wednesday night. Dash (70), who founded the Oriya fortnightly newspaper Janatantra in 2001, left behind his two sons and a daughter. He also worked for vernacular dailies Sambad and Prajatantra, weekly newspaper Eastern Times, etc.
Born at Salepur locality in Cuttack district of Odisha, the nationalist journalist tested positive for Covid-19 on 1 September and he was in home quarantine. Later Dash was admitted to a private hospital in Bhubaneswar, where he finally succumbed the novel corona virus infection aggravated ailments on 6 October.
Geneva-based global media safety and rights body Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) apprehends that if the journalists around the world continue die because of Covid-19 at the present trend, it may reach the 2,000 marks by the end of 2021. Till the first week of October, the world witnesses the demise of 1830 scribes due to corona sicknesses in 83 countries since March 2020.
Prior to Das, Kochi-based cartoonist C J Yesudasan (83) died of post corona complications on 6 October, who was preceded by another Odia scribe Satyajit Mohapatra (44) losing his battle to the virus infection on 4 October.
“Journalists on the ground remain one of the most exposed professions. The number of registered victims has slowed down since June, but the vaccination rate remains insufficient in many countries,” said PEC general secretary Blaise Lempen adding that some politicians, also a section of media, continue spreading false information about vaccination at a high cost.
