Indian international students on Vancouver Island are among those watching nervously as their home country continues to grapple with soaring COVID-19 cases and deaths.
According to the World Health Organization, in the past 24 hours alone, India reported another new single-day high of 349,691 new cases and 2,767 new deaths, although many experts believe the death toll is much much higher.
Hospitals are unable to cope with the swelling number of COVID cases and recent images from local and international media show people literally dying in the streets as their oxygen tanks run out.
“It’s devastating honestly like even just thinking about it it’s not easy to talk about,” said Siddharth Pathak, president of the University of Victoria’s Indian Students’ Association, whose extended family and many friends live in India.
Approximately 800 students current and former students are are members of the UVic Indian Students Association and many of the students currently in Victoria, particularly fourth-year students, are under the pressure of exams as the situation unfolds several time zones away.
“When it comes to my aunt who has COVID, she terribly needs a hospital bed,” said Priyancy Raichada, a fourth-year psychology student from Mumbai. “The oxygen is running out and I think what they’re trying to do now is ration it.”
India, the world’s second most populated country, has seen infections soar to unimaginable levels in recent weeks, reporting more than 2.7 million new cases in the last seven days.
There is also growing international concern over the B.1.617 variant first detected in the country, which is sometimes referred to as the double mutant variant.
That concern has prompted Canada to suspend all flights from India as well as Pakistan for 30 days, effectively stranding many students here on the Island who were planning to return home after exams.
“They were excited to meet their parents finally after one year of COVID restrictions or high COVID cases and the moment I saw online that Canada has banned all the flights from India, and Pakistan and all the other neighbouring countries, I was like, ‘yep that’s definitely a big stressful thing,” said Pathak.
Millions of people in India have also lost their jobs including Priyancy Raichada’s father, adding to the stress of family members here in Canada.
“And with the job shortages in B.C., I had initially planned that I would earn over here, save up and send some money to my parents for their immediate future use but that seems a little bit bleak right now,” said Raichada.
Siddharth Pathak, president of the University of Victoria’s Indian Students’ Association, whose extended family and many friends live in India, says the situation back home is devastating. (CHEK News)
Priyancy Raichada, a fourth-year psychology student from Mumbai, says her aunt has COVID-19 and needs a hospital bed as soon as possible. (CHEK News)
Dean Stoltz
