Sachin Tendulkar (left) and Balvir Chand (right)

Balvir Chand, known for being cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkars doppelganger, recently tested positive for COVID-19. The 50-year-old Tendulkar lookalike returned to his village Sahlon in Punjab earlier this month after losing his job as an ambassador of a fast food chain in Mumbai due to the lockdown.

Chand told a daily that the fast food chain- Goli Vada Pav, who had employed him, lost business after the lockdown was announced, and let go of a lot of staff. He too, was asked to leave, and was reassured that they were to hire him back after things improve. On June 10, after reaching his village, Chand, his wife, daughter and younger son had tested positive for COVID-19, and were shifted to the hospital. On June 21, he was told by the doctors that he could leave the isolation ward.

Also read : COVID-19: Maharashtra govt. allows weddings in non-AC halls and lawns with restrictions

Paying rent in Mumbai had become difficult for him due to the lockdown, and when inter-state travel resumed, Chand and his family took a train to return to their village. However, they tested positive after returning back home. We took all precautions, carried 15 bottle of sanitizers, N95 masks, our own food. But there were a lot of passengers who were quite careless. I can say from experience that travelling is not safe right now, he said.