Al Jazeera’s Elizabeth Puranam Reports from India

In the beginning it was a shock, people dying around her while desperate families begged hospital officials for help. Auckland-raised Al Jazeera anchor and journalist Elizabeth Puranam, 37, wouldn’t say she’s used to it, but after a year and a bit of reporting on India’s devastating Covid crisis, she’s grown an extra layer of skin. Sharon Stephenson interviews Puranam for a Stuff feature.

The day Stephenson speaks to her, India is topping 350,000 Covid cases a day, a new world record.

Hyderabad-born Puranam is Al Jazeera English’s India correspondent. She’s been with the Middle Eastern news network since leaving TV3 in 2012 and has helmed the Indian operation for just over a year, Stephenson writes.

For the past fortnight, Puranam has been working 12-hour days.

“It’s exhausting, but I have a job to do and this is currently the world’s biggest story. It’s critical that people know what’s happening here,” she says.

Original article by Sharon Stephenson, Stuff, May 15, 2021.