New Delhi, usually bustling and teeming capital, has closed itself off.
There is a precarious calm, broken at regular intervals by ambulance sirens.
The coronavirus, which is sweeping like a tsunami over India, hits the megalopolis of more than 20 million inhabitants with incredible violence.
"This second wave, we did not see it coming," says Maïwenn Vinchon, yoga teacher, installed in the megalopolis for more than three years.
A few weeks ago, life seemed to have resumed its course and a form of levity floated in the atmosphere.
The Delhiites had started to frequent bars, restaurants and cinemas again.
“When I arrived in India in March, everything was open, the virus was not very present.
In one week, ten days, everything has accelerated ”, testifies Margot, a young Frenchwoman who came to join her expatriate mother in India.
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While the virus had declined considerably at the start of the year, the situation changed in mid-April.
"I fell ill at the same time as everyone else and yet I didn't do anything crazy, it's as if the virus was in the air", explains Maïwenn Vinchon, tested positive for the coronavirus on April 12 .
"Either you seek help or you die"
“Everyone fell ill in a week, it's incredible, the curve is vertical,” confirms Stéphane Paumier, another Frenchman who has lived in India for more than twenty years. The offices of the architectural firm he heads, SPA Design, have been closed for two weeks already. "My team is 50% affected and it is the same in the building in which I live, it is sealed and watched by the police, nobody enters, nobody leaves", says this man of 50 years. who is also recovering from Covid-19.
The flood of patients is such that the hospitals are at the end of their rope.
Maïwenn Vinchon lived the traumatic experience.
A week after contracting the virus, when she thought she was better, she relapsed in the middle of the night.
“I fell in love with my bathroom, I was exhausted, completely disoriented and I was very scared.
I said to myself: either you seek help or you die.
"
The 35-year-old roommate then tries to call an ambulance, to no avail.
It is a friend who will take them to the hospital by car.
"We couldn't even get into the emergency room, it was full, but after long insisting, a doctor in a protective kit came to examine me in the car before sending me home," she recalls. .
Patients left to their own devices
In the capital, the families of the sick are on their own. Some run from hospital to hospital in search of a bed or oxygen cylinders for their loved ones. We no longer count the messages of calls for help launched on social networks or received by WhatsApp. “In India, we are often faced with situations close to disaster, but I had never seen that,” says Stéphane Paumier. It's like a country at war. "
Despite the restrictions imposed on New Delhi, confined until May 3, the coronavirus continues to spread there like wildfire.
Among the more than 9,300 French people living in India, some are now choosing to leave the country, at least for a while.
“I told myself that I had to go back to France, I was shocked and my priority is to be with my family,” says Maïwenn Vinchon, who will be flying to Paris at the end of the week.
I don't want to stay in India, where there is no medical infrastructure.
"
Stéphane Paumier also wants to go away for a few weeks.
"The idea is to leave the permanent oppression and come back, I cannot give up everything", specifies the architect, none of whose current projects have been canceled for the moment.
And to conclude: “It will get worse, before getting better.
"
