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Covid-19: Foreign returns face the heat
People who have returned from abroad are being ostracised by their neighbours and relatives due to the growing fear of coronavirus.
A panic-stricken Indian student, who was studying in Paris, returned to Delhi just days before the city started inching towards a complete lockdown. She chose to come back because it was getting difficult for her to survive in Paris — where the lockdown was already underway. “My university was going to shut down in a week’s time. The lockdown of the city I lived in was had begun, and people had started panic stocking toilet rolls, sanitizers and food from the supermarkets. I felt that there is soon going to be a scarcity of food; I didn’t know French, the public transport was avoidable in these times and I didn’t own any form of a conveyance. If something would’ve happened to me, I would have been completely stranded,” says the 34-old-student who has now returned to her home in Noida.
Upon landing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, this student says that she was had to not just undergo tests but was also escorted to a quarantine facility in Chhattarpur, before she was released a few days later, and asked to home quarantine further. “We were taken to a bus, escorted with plenty of policemen after hours of screening at the airport. While we sat in the bus, the public from outside started making our videos and taking photos as if we weren’t international returns but zoo animals! It was really unnerving,” she recalls, adding that the treatment of her neighbours and those living in her society hasn’t been much different with her parents having to face scorn every now and then. She asks, “Now I’m thinking, did I make a mistake by returning home in between the coronavirus outbreak?”
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Association of those societies that house residents with family members who have recently returned from abroad, are having a tough time tackling the situation of ostracization of these foreign returns. Take for instance Shweta Gupta, joint secretary of the society Mahagun Moderne in Noida. Gupta had to deal with multiple cases of foreign return nationals in her society. Concerned residents kept messaging her. Gupta says, “Our tower people were concerned because the foreign return individual would be using the same common place areas, like the lift, to go home. Furthermore, people were afraid that the maid who would be working at that individual’s place would be working at other places in the society as well. I asked the individual to write in our society’s WhatsApp group assuring other residents that all the necessary precautions are being undertaken by her. We even sent a mailer to all residents that the society has been thoroughly cleaned, and that the individual is practising self isolation properly.”
Did this help in comforting the society residents and their fear around the foreign return resident? “Absolutely! Overnight, because of proper communication and pro-active attitude of the international resident in taking precautions, she became the hero of the society. Other residents also reached out to her, and offered to deliver groceries to her doorstep. Once the society residents were assured that they are safe, the panic subsided,” adds Gupta.
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The cold-shouldering of people who recently travelled abroad is quite an issue in some cases. A Gurugram resident, who runs a pre-school, says on condition of anonymity, “I had just returned from my travel at a time when the coronavirus epidemic hadn’t reached India. So a parent asked me, ‘Mere bachche ka khaasi zukaam theek nahin ho raha bahut din se. Mujhe pata chala aap bahar se ho kar aaye ho. Toh yeh poochna tha ki aap theek ho ya nahin’. I immediately clarified that I was fine!”
But experts say that ostracization isn’t the right way to deal with the present situation. Dr Jivitesh Satija, who currently working as a resident in cardiology, addresses how to tackle this problem, and says, “Please follow the guidelines that the government has issued. Sanitize often, maintain social distancing and adhere to the lockdown. All foreign return individuals must also practice self quarantine. Help the foreign return individuals by encouraging them to maintain isolation, but do not shun them or stop talking to them through messages because the need of the hour is that people who are travelling from abroad must feel encouraged to report their travel history and voluntarily self isolate. If we make a big deal out of this issue, the fear is that the foreign returns might try to hide their travel details, because of feeling unwelcome. Do not panic, just be well informed, and let’s work together to tackle this pandemic.”
