Singaporeans say they will stay in India amid rising COVID-19 infections, but will take extra precautions

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans living in India have been taking precautions to keep themselves safe amid the country’s astronomical rise in COVID-19 infections.

Despite this, some of them have fallen victim to the disease, which has registered about 300,000 new cases daily in the country.

Among them is a Singaporean who wanted to be known only as Vishal. Mr Vishal, who is currently living in Chennai, tested positive for COVID-19 on Apr 17.

He described the last 10 days as “horrible”.

Speaking to CNA on Thursday (Apr 29), he said: “It’s like a roller coaster - it goes up and comes down. Some days I’m okay, sometimes a lot of pain - especially during this time to have COVID-19 in India, it’s a bit scary.”

His first symptom was a headache, he said. Worried that he might have been infected by the virus, he requested for hospital staff to test him at his home as a precaution.

“I thought, no I’m okay, I don’t have COVID-19. And then, you won’t believe it, I had COVID-19,” he said.

His symptoms worsened the next day. He experienced a “drilling” sensation in his forehead and had so much phlegm that he would wake up in the night with trouble breathing. 

Mr Vishal found it was easier to cope with the pain and discomfort of the disease's symptoms than it was to deal with the fact that he was COVID-19-positive.

“Every single person asking you and advising you, and you reading stuff in the newspaper - scares you. That one week I was very, very scared," he said. 

Chennai has recorded about 4,000 daily cases in the past week.

READ: India's daily COVID-19 cases spike to new global record, as total infections cross 18 million mark

READ: First US COVID-19 emergency aid supplies arrive in India

One silver lining for him was that he could stay home, with doctors going to his home to assess him. Medication was also delivered, he said. 

“I didn't need to go out. I had people who actually came in, checked on me,” he said.

Mr Vishal said he is not sure how he got infected. He said he had been “very careful”  with social distancing, wearing gloves and masks outside, and sanitising his hands. He also tried to stay home as much as possible.

He would have to be "extra cautious" now, he said, to avoid getting re-infected. Instead of going to the supermarket to buy his essentials, he will order everything online.

He also plans to exercise at home, as opposed to going to the gym.

Mr Vishal said that he wants to return to Singapore, but only when he is sure that it is safe for himself and others. 

“Right now, I think the wise thing to do is to stay home,” he said. “Getting out of the house to go anywhere is not worth the risk.”

SAFER TO STAY IN INDIA

Another Singaporean in Chennai who has chosen to stay put is Mrs Malini Pravin Saivi, who has lived in India with her family for the past nine years.

“It makes more sense to stay put, rather than moving, because moving will make you more susceptible to the disease … it will expose you more.”

India is also a place where her husband is building a career in the music industry, she added.

She said: “I think (if) everyone is safe and healthy, wherever they are, this too will pass. We will overcome this and start living in a new norm.”

She and her family also do not step out of their house unless necessary. They have their groceries delivered to their home and reduced the number of social gatherings.

“We’ve adapted a lot to just being at home and living in my home itself, without having to go out so much,” the 37-year-old said, adding that they make sure to wear masks, sanitise and use their own mode of transport if they have to go out.

READ: Australia doctor defies distance to aid Indian relatives hit by COVID-19

The reality of India's overwhelmed healthcare industry hit close to home for Mrs Pravin Saivi when some of her friends and their family members who had been infected were not able to find beds in hospitals.

She said she has mentally prepared herself for the possibility of her family contracting the disease, after observing that many people in her city were not taking the necessary precautions.

“In the event that we are unfortunate and we get infected, we know how to treat ourselves at home. There are some guidelines … The doctors are available online and over phone, they can tell us what medicine exactly to take and all that,” she said. 

THE SITUATION IN INDIA

Reports coming out of the country describe a dire need for oxygen and hospital beds, without which many people have died.

India reported declining COVID-19 numbers in September last year, but things began going downhill six months later when new variants of the coronavirus emerged in the country.

At least 300,000 people have been testing positive for COVID-19 each day amid the worrying second wave of infections. Health facilities are overwhelmed and are in particular lacking the oxygen supplies needed to treat patients.

READ: Singapore sends oxygen aid to help India fight COVID-19 pandemic

Crematoriums are also overwhelmed, as the death toll, currently at more than 200,000, rises.

As of Thursday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not issued a public advisory for Singaporeans living in India.

REDUCING RISK

Ms Komala Subramaniam, who lives in a village near Tamil Nadu with her husband, said that she hardly goes anywhere, even though the area is not badly affected by the pandemic. 

“Why take the risk? We have to protect ourselves,” she said. Ms Komala said she has visited her daughter who is living a two-hour drive away from her only two to three times since the pandemic started, once when her daughter fell sick and twice for important ceremonies.

Even then, she practises precautions, including wearing a mask.

“I don’t leave the car at any time on the way there. I eat at home and I bring a water bottle with me,” she said.  

Ms Komala meant to go to Singapore to visit her children and grandchildren during the June school holidays. She told CNA she was upset that her plans had to be postponed as she misses them. 

FINDING COMFORT IN COMMUNITY

Ms Amarit Kaur, whose stay in Bengaluru had turned out longer than expected, said her family and the gated community she lives in have been a source of comfort. 

Ms Kaur lives with her her husband, two children aged four and five, and her husband’s family in a four-storey bungalow in the Southern state.

Speaking to CNA a day after the state went into lockdown, Ms Kaur said that more than 10 people have been infected within the premises, which houses 300 to 400 villas. Their homes are marked by stickers to indicate this.

“It never got real until people inside here started getting (COVID-19) and because when it comes closer to you ... and even people who are vaccinated are getting it, it's like ‘oh my gosh, this is real’,” the 34-year-old said. 

Her next-door neighbours tested positive for the disease two weeks ago, prompting Ms Kaur and her husband to get tested as well. The results turned out negative. 

READ: India's COVID-19 oxygen crisis: Why is there a deadly crunch?

Ms Kaur said that the situation is worse than when India had its first lockdown in March last year because then, there were just three cases in the estate. 

She said that while many people are taking the situation seriously, there are people who are not. Cops do stop people who are not wearing masks, but the enforcement may not be effective.

“Law enforcement here is not like in Singapore. People are not scared of the law,” she said 

Amid the rising numbers, Ms Kaur has kept her children at home with her for the past three weeks, and not let them play and mingle with the other children in the estate like they used to.

They also don’t go out. The car is as far as they go, she said. 

“I just take them for a round in the car so they only stay in the car. (They) see the outside world, but we are in the car,” she said. 

Ms Kaur has also stopped the services of domestic helpers and cooks who work part-time for multiple homes in the community. Groceries are delivered to the home. 

Despite being in an unpredictable situation, the people in the community look out for one another, something Ms Kaur appreciates.

Security guards conduct rounds twice a day to ensure that everything is well with the COVID-19 positive members who have been quarantined, she said.

There is a clinic within the estate and an ambulance on standby. They also get updates on the number of cases within the community, she said. 

“We also get tested at home so we don't have to go to the hospital. My neighbour who tested positive has all her meals delivered to her by people in our community who run a tiffin service …  It’s a great community,” she said. 

Ms Kaur went to Bengaluru with her family in December 2019 so the children could spend time with her husband’s family who live there. The plan was to then come to Singapore to be with her family in April the next year. 

But the COVID-19 pandemic threw a spanner in the works.

Ms Kaur said she does not keep track of the COVID-19 numbers because it does not do her any good. 

“You just increase your anxiety knowing something that you cannot control. You cannot control the numbers, you cannot control other people's behaviour, so you just do what you can control, stay at home, keep your kids safe,” she said. 

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