Isn't Antarctica where the wall at the end of the earth is? lol

That's Pradeep Tomar - a medical doctor on a research mission to India's Bharati base, in Antarctica.

He is five months into a year-long deployment to the station.

And if Covid-19 reached an Antarctic research base, it could be devastating. There's nowhere else to go, medical facilities are limited - and the likelihood of spreading it to others would be high.

And so despite being on the only continent without any cases of coronavirus, the 23-strong team at the facility has been on lockdown since February.

Anyone coming to Antarctica is now quarantined for 14 days.

And if someone starts showing Covid-19 symptoms in Antarctica, they must be isolated immediately, alongside anyone they've had contact with.

And before lockdown started, there would be regular visits to Bharati from neighbouring expeditions.

The visitors' national flag would be raised for their arrival. The different teams would celebrate important national days together. And if one of the bases needed equipment they did not have to hand, they would borrow it from their neighbours.

''This level of harmony among nations is not visible in the real world,'' Dr Tomar says

But he has not seen anyone from another facility since the beginning of March, when joint activities were paused.

When Dr Tomar arrived at Bharati, on 15 November 2019, to study the psychological effects of a polar expedition on the researchers, the world was much the same as it had always been. Now, he says, there is a constant anxiety on the site, fuelled by the lack of information about coronavirus - and constant worrying about their families back home.

Dr Tomar and his colleagues have only a vague idea of what the global pandemic and subsequent lockdowns entail.

He is relying on friends and family for updates.

And some consequences of the social distancing he is struggling to imagine at all.

''Friends have been telling me that they are surviving in a situation like ours, isolated and glued at home,'' he says.

''It is beyond my imagination to realise the entire world going out with their masks on.

Ok you just talk to yourself then.

Blah blah blah

When Dr Tomar arrived, he was wary of the dangers of the Antarctic landscape.

''There is a constant threat to life when you are here,'' he says. ''Vast sheets of ice are packed with hidden crevices to fall into.''

But now, he is more fearful for the people at home. The world as Dr Tomar knows it could change beyond recognition during his year on the frozen continent. While he had been trained for the social isolation, compatriots at home have not.

''I truly wish I could serve my country in this time of need,'' he says. ''Nobody has ever witnessed something like the ongoing crisis. I hope to see the same world again when we go home.''

Just copy pasting that, not that I need to explain that to anyone tbh. Hi.

Maybe he won't be coming home...


Maybe the Antarcticans will be the only uninfected humans left on Earth. They should just stay there while we resupply them.