After a neighbor died from the virus, a mother isolated with her two daughters. In a tiny place with no sanitary facilities – and eventually without food.
No one had heard of the woman and her two children for a long time – but in the Indian village of Kadali, Andhra Pradesh, it was assumed that Ruthamma Benny’s family had fled to relatives during the turmoil of the corona pandemic. But the woman and her two daughters reacted differently to the dangers posed by the virus after a neighbor died of Corona: They locked themselves in their tiny house – more a mixture of hut and tent – and stayed there. For 15 months. Without sanitation and eventually without food.
After the virus reached the village of Ruthamma and her two daughters, Kanthamani and Rani, the government quickly sent medical assistance. The three of them didn’t notice any more of this, as they had immediately and strictly isolated themselves after the death of their neighbor because of fear. A helper went from house to house on different days to hand out masks, give advice and offer help. But nobody opened the door in the Benny’s accommodation. Everything remained silent and seemed deserted.
The family’s hut looked completely deserted
The three were not discovered until months later. After the long time, relatives began to worry and ask where the mother and the two young women were. Eventually she was found in her tiny place – in miserable condition. Police and rescue workers came and transported all three to a hospital. “Her condition was critical when we took her out. Her hair was long and unkempt, she had not bathed for a long time. We immediately took her to the local clinic,” said an official.
The severely malnourished people would probably not have survived two or three days longer. Fearing the virus, they had lived in catastrophic and cramped conditions in their accommodation for more than a year: “The family stayed in their little tent, they even did their business there.” The three would now be treated, the official told Sky News, and they are already doing a little better.
The Benny family’s fear is understandable, however: India was hit particularly hard by the coronavirus. Almost 32 million people fell ill, the official number of victims is around 419,000. Experts suspect that the number of unreported cases could be three times as high.
