India: Hailed as an anti-Covid hero, 19, but doctors, nurses and frontline staff were attacked by panicked people.

Reports of attacks and mistreatment have taken place across India and intensified after the government on March 24 imposed a nationwide blockade in 21 days. In at least one case, police were accused of hitting delivery staff transporting drugs.

Sanjibani Panigrahi, a doctor in the western city of Surat, said she was besieged when she returned home after a day at the hospital treating Covid-19 patients. Neighbors blocked her at the entrance to the condo and threatened "consequences" if she continued to work.

"These are people who have fun chatting with me. Whenever they have problems, I help," said the 36-year-old female doctor. "There is a sense of fear among people. I understand. But it seems that I suddenly became a disregarded villain."

Doctors at the Indian Institute of Medical Sciences this week sent a letter to the government asking for help after health workers were evicted by the landlord. "Many doctors across the country are thrown into the streets with all their luggage, nowhere to go," the letter said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the mistreatment of medical staff had become a "huge problem" and called on people to stop treating health workers as inferior. Modi described the frontline anti-Covid-19 agents as "gods-like". "Today they are the people who are saving us from death, putting their lives in danger," the Indian Prime Minister said.

Health workers are not the only ones facing people panicking in an environment where misinformation and rumors are rampant. Aviation workers and airports, who are still calling for evacuation of Indians trapped abroad and managing deliveries of important items, are also threatened.

Indigo and Air India have condemned threats to their employees. An Air India flight attendant said the neighbors threatened to evict her from the apartment when she was on her way to the US, saying she would "infect everyone".

"I couldn't sleep that night," she said, but didn't dare to reveal her name for fear of further discrimination. "I'm afraid even if I go home, will someone open the door or call people to kick me out?" Her husband then had to ask the police for help to resolve the matter.

Others are not so lucky. One of her colleagues was forced to leave home and now lives with her parents. "With all the fake news, they don't know what's going on. Paranoia makes them behave like that," she said.

T. Praveen Keerthi, general secretary of the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (IPCA), said that they had received more than 50 complaints from the crew. "Airline guards are blocked from entering their residential areas," Keerthi said. "We have to leave family and children to help people. The minimum we expect is that our colleagues are not harassed and ostracized."

Airport workers in charge of transporting supplies also face attacks when delivery workers transport drugs and groceries.

E-commerce giant Flipkart temporarily stopped service this week. Walmart-owned consortium said it will only continue to deliver at home after the police ensure "safe and smooth passage of our supply chain".

Covid-19 has appeared in 199 countries and territories, causing more than 532,000 people to be infected and more than 24,000 to die. India currently records more than 700 cases, of which 20 have died. In addition to the blockade of 1.3 billion people, India also provides a budget of 150 billion rupees (nearly 2 billion USD) to support nCoV testing, providing isolation beds, ventilators and other essential supplies.