Covid-19 scare: 24 hours on, techie finds way back from Italy

TNN | Mar 15, 2020, 07.10 AM IST

COIMBATORE: A software developer stranded in Italy returned home on Saturday morning after several phone calls, detailed planning and three flights.

While the Centre was allowing Indians stranded in Italy to return with a Covid-19 negative certificate, Srinithin Jayabal was stuck in Rome as doctors refused to subject him to the test as he didn't show any symptoms.

He finally went to another European country, which he didn't wish to name, flew to Delhi and then took a third flight to Coimbatore. Jayabal describes his return to India at 1am on Saturday as an "adventure". He used his business contacts in Europe, including sources in the Vatican church, to find other European countries with almost no or a low number of Covid-19 cases. " I confirmed that flights from that country were going to India daily. I then flew to that country from Rome on Friday and took a direct flight to New Delhi. I am relieved the immigration authorities here cleared my entry after a detailed check-up. They found me to be fine."

Jayabal, however, has decided to quarantine himself for 14 days. The techie, who flew to Italy on February 26, was stranded there since Wednesday, when the country came under a lockdown. On Tuesday, the country recorded more than 10,000 Covid-19 cases. "I was staying in a hotel. But the plight of many other Indians, including a pregnant woman with a child, was pathetic. They were in the airport for two days."

What made the situation worse for Indians was shutting down of all consular services by the Indian embassy. "As a result, there was no update or news for the stranded people from the hotline operator."

On March 10, Jayabal and 15 other Indians were not allowed to board their flight to India by the Emirates authorities. The airline said the Indian government had instructed them not to allow Indian passport holders to return from Italy without Covid-19 negative certificates. "Getting tested for the virus in Italy is not allowed without symptoms, because the hospitals are booked to capacity. So, it was impossible to get the certificate. My mails and tweets to the external affairs ministry yielded no response," said Jayabal describing the desperate times that he went through.