Muslim charity ensures lonely Australian pensioners don't starve amid lockdown

Struggling to cope with the extreme stress of shielding themselves from the highly infectious disease, the elderly are most vulnerable in face of the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

A Muslim charity in coronavirus-stricken Australia brought relief to self-isolating lonely pensioners, expressing that they are not alone in this fight.

Elderly residents lacking a support network were driven to tears after receiving care packages filled with essential goods.

"It's quite heartbreaking because most of them never expected something like this would happen. One person yesterday - he was in tears - he was like, who are you?" Ali Kadir, the state manager for Human Appeal South Australia, told the Daily Mail.

Human Appeal International, an international relief charity, launched the initiative this week after Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged Australians over the age of 70 to stay indoors.

The free food parcels contain rice, pasta, sugar, plain flour, cereal, oil, honey, pasta sauce, long life milk and baked beans.

“Nothing like this has ever happened to me in my life. It's not right for them to go through this, you know, they're vulnerable so we have to protect them,” Kadir said, urging distributors and suppliers to join the initiative.

The Australian government has banned gatherings of more than two people, while certain classes of older people have been asked to stay home wherever possible for their own protection.

After originating in Wuhan last December, the virus known as COVID-19 has spread to at least 180 countries and regions across the world, with its epicenter shifting to Europe, while China has largely come out of the crisis.

The virus has killed more than 42,400 people and infected over 862,200 globally, while some 178,800 people recovered from the disease, according to figures collated by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.