When Dr Rajakumaran Mampuzha, a doctor from Kerala, was working as a Senior Medical Officer at a hospital in the Maldives, having a meal on a typical day would usually mean walking into an affordable restaurant or hotel and buying it for himself.

However, since the island country announced a 14-day lockdown on 15 April, Dr Rajakumaran, who is stranded there has had to resort to desperate means to fill his belly.

“On the first day when the lockdown was announced, nobody had an idea this was coming. People like me who depend on hotels for food were left in the lurch. Once, I was forced to take a bite out of some leftover food from the waste bin in my room”, he tells The News Minute from Male, the capital city of the Maldives.