Neighbours' drastic act to 'trap Covid-infected couple in home'

A couple has been allegedly locked inside their own home by their neighbours after contracting the coronavirus.

The man and woman found a big padlock slapped on their door after news emerged they had tested positive.

The incident took place in the M.R.M residency apartment complex in Nellore, in southern India's Andhra Pradesh, on Tuesday (local time).

Two men stand in a hallway speaking to a couple who have Covid-19 through the iron gate in India.
Two men speak to the couple through an iron gate after they were allegedly locked in their own home by neighbours. Source: Jam Press/Australscope

The alleged lock-in took place amid a rising number of Covid-19 cases and deaths in India.

Video shows the couple standing behind large iron bars which have been padlocked.

The couple are seen inside their apartment, talking to two men who are standing behind the gate in the adjacent hallway.

Neighbours allegedly put up the iron gate after discovering the couple had tested positive for the virus.

The gate was reportedly put up without the couple's consent.

The couple who tested positive to coronavirus behind an iron gate, trapped in their home.
The iron gate was allegedly erected to trap the couple inside their home. Source: Jam Press/Australscope

The country on Friday reported more than 330,000 new infections — a world record — and 2,000 deaths in a single day.

India's total confirmed cases have surpassed 16 million, second only to the US's 31.9 million, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

India is also currently suffering from an acute oxygen shortage as it faces its second wave of the virus and there are growing fears for the countries overwhelmed health care system.

Shahid Jameel, a virologist and director of the Trivedi School of Biosciences at Ashoka University, said hospitals were struggling to cope.

"Right now there are no beds, no oxygen. Everything else is secondary," he said.

"The infrastructure is crumbling."

– Australscope, Reuters

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