‘A chance to make peace’: the Chinese toughing out India’s coronavirus storm

Several hundred Chinese nationals remain in India even amid a surge in Covid-19 and frayed diplomatic ties between the two countries

Some are struggling to return, hampered by a lack of flights, tests and travel permits. Others are happy to remain and hope Beijing’s offer of aid can help mend fences

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Exhausted workers, who bring dead bodies for cremation, sit on the rear step of an ambulance inside a crematorium in New Delhi, India. Photo: AP

Published: 9:00am, 28 Apr 2021Updated: 10:24pm, 28 Apr 2021

Qiu, a Chinese mechanical engineer based in India’s southern city of Bangalore, developed a high fever and lost his sense of taste and smell last week. He suspects he has Covid-19 but amid India’s surging outbreak that has overwhelmed hospitals, Qiu has not been able to get a Covid-19 test.

The 33-year-old is among several hundred Chinese nationals still in India, most of them either working for large companies or married to Indians. Several among the community are understood to have tested positive for Covid-19 in recent days.

India reached a grim milestone on Wednesday as its death toll from the coronavirus passed 200,000 and a devastating surge of new infections continued to overwhelm health care systems on the brink of collapse.

The country also reported 362,757 new infections, a new global record, which raised its overall total past 17.9 million, the second-highest number in the world, behind only the US.

Qiu with his colleagues in Bangalore. Photo: Handout

Qiu, who arrived in India at the end of 2019 for what was meant to be a work stint of several months, has been trying to return home to Shandong province. But if he tests positive for Covid-19, he will have to wait longer, as China requires people who have recovered from Covid-19 to wait 14 days after a negative test before they can be cleared for travel.