Covid-19 pandemic, social distancing give a virtual push to dating apps

A 35-year-old Delhi-based professional working in the renewable energy sector said when physical meeting was seen as an unnecessary risk last year, features like video chats helped

As a deadly pandemic rages on, causing particular concern in India with an exponential increase in cases and mortality, young people confined to their homes, keen on meeting and, yes, dating are finding novel ways of doing so. Journalist Revathi Hariharan, for instance, decided to meet her date for the first time at a vaccination centre in Delhi earlier this month.

Dating during the pandemic has been a challenge for many people, and not only from the safety point of view. Hariharan points to a general gloom and lack of interest as well as motivation. With vaccines opening up for the