An Australian permanent resident has died in India after contracting COVID-19, his daughter says
An Australian permanent resident has died in India after contracting COVID-19, says his daughter, as the country continues to shatter records for new deaths and cases of the virus.
Sydney woman Sonali Ralhan says her father died on Wednesday in a small private New Delhi hospital after contracting coronavirus, three days after the federal government enacted a controversial India travel ban and made it temporarily illegal for citizens and permanent residents stranded there to come home. Quarantine facility for COVID-19 patients, in New Delhi on 4 May.” src=”https://sl.sbs.com.au/public/image/file/136861ec-e4f6-4ede-85a4-c0e107683dad” alt=” A health worker takes care of patients inside a banquet hall, temporarily converted into a quarantine facility for COVID-19 patients, in New Delhi on 4 May.” width=”700″ height=”473″ />
Her father, 59, became a permanent resident of Australia more than ten years ago and often traveled back to India, where he managed a hotel in New Delhi.
Because of his frequent business travel, he hadn’t spent enough time in Australia to qualify for citizenship but he planned to apply. Ms. Ralhan, her brother, and her mother are already prepared and are Australian citizens.
On Thursday, Ms. Ralhan revealed her father’s death in a Facebook post that she addressed to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, saying she was “highly disappointed” to be an Australian citizen. Ms. Ralhan also said her mother, who has recovered from COVID-19, remains stranded in India due to the travel ban.
“It is with a weighty heart and pain I need to inform you that my father has left us,” she wrote on Facebook.
“Now all I have left is my mother, who her government of Australia has abandoned.
“We all want to cry our hearts out, but we are saving them for when we are all together again.” She told SBS News her parents traveled to India late last year, and both had been unable to book flights to return ever since.
Ms. Ralhan, who would not release her father’s name due to privacy concerns, says he saw reports of Australia’s ban on its citizens returning from India in his dying days. “My father was still conscious, and he heard the news. He got an email from the Australian government regarding the new rule and everything. He was sick, and in that condition, receiving this news panicked him,” she said.
Then his condition kept on deteriorating.
In the Senate’s COVID-19 inquiry on Friday, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Barry O’Farrell, said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian permanent resident who had reportedly died in the country. The department’s aware and providing consular service by its charter to the family of an Australian permanent resident who reportedly has died in India. I’m advised that owing to our privacy obligations, we won’t be providing any further comment,” he said, adding that local authorities were yet to confirm the circumstances.
