Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; March 20, 2020)

Actor Shefali Shah is making the most of social media to spread awareness about the Coronavirus pandemic. It all started with an Instagram post, where she described the experience of ensuring her sons, who were training to be soccer players at an academy in Salaou Cambrills, Spain, got back home in Mumbai.

It was on March 13 when Shah felt it was time they returned, but initially no one agreed with her. She wrote, “…They were being evacuated from where they stayed. Both (sons) are in crucial years in school, ready to give board exams in two months. Angry at being uprooted and whisked back only because their mom was over reacting. I didn’t care a bat’s a**”. What made the situation more stressful for her was when on March 15, Spain announced a national lockdown. She had less than 18 hours to get them back as she felt it was just a matter of time before the borders would close.”

After they landed in India, the 47-year-old further narrated, “They were checked at the airport and though they were checked clean (they’re asymptomatic), they were taken to Seven Hills Hospital (which like, all hospitals for Covid-19, is a camp) for a quarantine period of 24 hours, where they were tested again for temperature and sore throat, asked for symptoms, and finally given a clean chit to return home….”

Back home, Shah is personally cleaning every room and washing all clothes, while keeping in mind the precautions that need to be taken. “Rooms are being cleaned, mopped, sanitised with disinfectants by me. Clothes are being washed separately, they’re eating alone in their room, bags are being wiped with sanitisers and put out in the sun before they get packed. I choose to do it personally and have no staff…” read another post. Currently, both her sons are home-quarantined.