Kiwi couple working in India share stories of fear, heartbreak from time stuck in Covid-plagued country

A Kiwi couple working in India have seen first-hand just how devastating the Covid-19 pandemic has been there.

Tony and Barbara Batchelor returned to India last December when they were informed the school they were working at in Mumbai intended to re-open as the country showing signs of getting the virus under control.

However, soon after they arrived they were caught up in the growing chaos of India's Covid-19 response, with cases now ballooning to over 300,000 a day.

As a result, the Batchelors told 1 NEWS their time in India has been an isolated experience.

"We open our computers every morning and we get an update from our staff, their families and their children," Barbara said.

"That has just increased hugely in this last month and we've watched them suffer and we hear of the deaths, we hear of children in rooms on their own because they may not have Covid-19 at the moment but other family members do so they pass the food in.

"It's reduced socialising and contact to a level of only being able to see people on a screen and [using that] for support and help."

The couple have been living in a highrise apartment where protocols currently state if a Covid-19 case is found, the case's entire floor is sealed and locked down.

"We do live a little bit in fear that we're going to wake up and find that there's a note under our door that says that somebody on our floor has been diagnosed with Covid and so therefore we'd be locked down for 14 days and not able to get out of the building," Tony said.

"It's a constant worry but we've been lucky so far."

Despite the fear of lockdown, the couple admit they can count on a single hand the amount of times they've "gone out" from their apartment since arriving in India.

"We've virtually been in this apartment since we arrived back in December, apart from days we went out to get our vaccines," Barbara said.

The pair have since been fully vaccinated and told 1 NEWS they were "thrilled" about the Government's announcement today that residents would be able to return to New Zealand from high-risk countries such as India after a two-week travel ban was initiated earlier this month.

While the travel ban was tough to stomach, they fully understood the reasoning.

"I can understand for [the Government] it's a struggle, but for us, we're thinking for safety of what our home country is, we want to get back to New Zealand," Barbara said.

"I feel for [the Government] because we know the situation here and if they're residents, that is a hard decision but I also understand New Zealand has to do this in a way that is manageable."

With the school's board advising them the school won't be opening any time soon, the Batchelors initially booked flights to return in June, but have since "taken the gamble" of moving those flights forward to May 18.

If flights become available earlier, than that, they said they'd change to them.

"We're looking forward to getting home."