This story is from March 26, 2020

Neighbours welcome back first batch of recovered patients in Mumbai

If there was relief at recovery for the first batch of the city’s Covid-19 patients who were discharged on Tuesday, there was also anxiety about how neighbours would welcome them. And most have been pleasantly surprised.
Neighbours welcome back first batch of recovered patients in Mumbai
Residents dressed in traditional attire celebrate Gudi Padwa during a lockdown in Mumbai
MUMBAI: If there was relief at recovery for the first batch of the city’s Covid-19 patients who were discharged on Tuesday, there was also anxiety about how neighbours would welcome them. And most have been pleasantly surprised.
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The city’s index patients — a septuagenarian and his 68-year-old wife — began their journey home in an ambulance from Kasturba Hospital on Tuesday evening.
She had been suffering from side-effects of the drugs and was too weak to stand. So, the husband was worried how to reach their second floor apartment, but above all, he was fretting about how the neighbours would react to their homecoming.
A day after, he told TOI: “They have pleasantly surprised us. They arranged for our dinner on Tuesday night. It was simple homecooked food. They also provided us with lunch on Wednesday and someone has promised us dinner too. We are happy to be back home”. The couple from the western suburbs had gone to Dubai as part of a 40-member tour group. They were the first to test positive from Mumbai on March 11, two days after another couple from Pune had tested positive.
In a Ghatkopar slum, the son of a 68-year-old woman was apprehensive since people in the locality had treated them as untouchables after she was detected with the infection. However, on Tuesday, when his mother returned and they showed that her reports were normal, things were better. “It will improve once she gets fitter,” he said with relief.
In Ulhasnagar, after a 49-year old woman and her brother were discharged and reached home on Tuesday, their families were not only relieved that they made it safely, but said people living around them also were happy and relieved, saying it is good news for all of Ulhasnagar.

The couple in the western suburbs has also been awed by the support of the BMC. On Wednesday morning, members from the ward office landed at their house and sanitised it. “We were made to wait in another room as they cleaned the rooms. They have also assured us of any help, including buying medicines during the lockdown. The officials are constantly in touch with us over the phone, which is very reassuring,” said the man. The flat next door belongs to their daughter, who lives abroad. There is a neighbor on the floor, for whom they had got a box of dates from Dubai. Unfortunately, the person has also tested positive and is admitted in Kasturba.
Profusely thanking his neighbours for providing them dinner, the man said: “We have asked them to keep the food near the elevator. They call us once the food is placed there,” he said. “Our worry now is how to shop for vegetables and fruits. There are long queues and we cannot step out for another 14 days,” he said.
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