By Neena Bhandari
Sydney, 27.03.2020 (Live Mint): Autumn (March – May) is one of my favourite seasons in Sydney, my home for two decades. Bright blue skies, gentle sea breeze and the mellow warmth of the sun provide a perfect setting for outdoor barbecues, picnics, music and theatre events. But as new shoots were just appearing on the charred landscape after a prolonged spring-summer of bushfires, droughts and floods, which had devastated communities and the economy, the novel Coronavirus (COVID 19) put a full stop to life as we know it.
`Social distancing’ is the diktat we must all abide by, if the spread of current contagion has to be halted. All non-citizens and non-residents have been banned from arriving in the country and Australians have been advised not to travel overseas. This big island continent is fortified. Friends far afield from Nepal to the UK are trying to get a flight home. But with the country’s flagship carrier, Qantas, slashing 90 percent international flights, these are trying times.