UK south-Asian diaspora despairs as India joins Covid red list

With travel from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh banned, some UK families are stuck abroad, while others cannot visit frail relatives

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For the past 17 months, Saurav Dutt has had to watch from afar as relatives were lost to Covid, ancestral homes were damaged by a typhoon, and the mental toll of isolation, grief and illness led elders to question their very existence.

He had flights booked for May, but with cases soaring and India on the UK's travel red list from 23 April, that is no longer an option. It's a very worrying time," Dutt said. You would think there are a million ways to help from over here, but we're handcuffed. To deal with these things we need to be there."