Covid: Student tells of 'heartbreaking' calls to family in India

A student has told of making "heartbreaking" calls to his mother in India and hearing of friends succumbing to Covid in the country's latest surge.

Ansh Sachdeva said nine relatives in Delhi had caught the virus and his grandfather had died.

The 23-year-old said: "Every time I call, someone we know has died of it."

Bolton University student Mr Sachdeva said his other grandfather remains ill with Long Covid and has been left feeling "so helpless".

He returned to Delhi in November to support his family, but was too late to see his grandfather or attend the funeral.

There were no hospital beds, he said, even back then when cases were low, and the situation now was "very worrying".

"I feel so helpless. It's so scary," he told BBC Asian Network.

India has seen more Covid cases in the last seven days than any other country as the official death toll surpassed 200,000.

People have died waiting for beds with a severe shortage of oxygen supplies and hospitals crumbling under the strain of the pandemic.

Jay Acharya, of Timperley in Greater Manchester, has also spoken of his "complete helplessness" as he desperately called hospitals to try to arrange treatment for friends.

"Nobody is answering phone calls and even when we do get through the answer is always the same. They don't have any beds," he said.

The 36-year-old said it was "so scary".

Dr Deepak Gupta, from Stockport, has family in Mumbai.

He said several family members had recovered from Covid - including his sister, brother-in-law and nephew - but his cousin and a friend were seriously ill.

He said friends who work as doctors were "seeing a lot of mortalities" and "working round the clock to keep people alive".

"People are dying. People are suffering and being turned away from hospitals," he said.

"It's very sad and frustrating."

He said Mumbai was doing "relatively well" compared to the country's capital, and his aunty and a friend had been delivering food to people who were isolating.

He added: "I think community spirit is helping people."

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