Nine-year-old Shiven Desai took off to see his parents in Bengaluru on Tuesday, after being stuck in Mumbai for over two months. Day after the domestic flight operations resumed in India, Shiven was reunited with his parents, after spending the nationwide lockdown with his grandparents residing in Mumbai.
Shiven's mother, Neha Desai, was quoted in an interview with The Indian Express. She said, "No one could sleep till his flight took off. We were very worried that it would get cancelled."
However, Shiven was excited to make his trip back to Bangaluru alone.
"As soon as I entered the airport, I was given a sanitiser, gloves and protective gear," he was quoted saying. On arrival, his temperature was checked, and he was also advised to self-quarantine for the next two weeks.
"After it was announced that domestic flights would resume from May 25, I spent around three hours at the airport going from counter to counter to get answers," Neha said. However, she was told that there were no flights available from Mumbai on May 25. Shiven was able to get a SpiceJet flight on Tuesday morning, and he returned home safely.
After his exams were unexpectedly cancelled, Shiven decided to travel back to Mumbai with his grandmother for a short vacation. But his holiday was indefinitely extended after the Center announced a lockdown on March 24. The lockdown was announced as a preventive measure to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Today, Maharashtra is the worst-affected state in India, with Mumbai being the hot-spot for COVID-19. The city has so far recorded over 32,000 COVID-19 cases.
