Foreign caregivers on frontline of Israel virus fight

Each time Maria, an Indian care worker living in Israel, goes shopping she is consumed by fears of bringing the coronavirus into the home of the 91-year-old woman she looks after.

Maria is among tens of thousands of foreigners, mostly women from India and the Philippines, who care for Israel's elderly population, often while facing a precarious immigration status.

In normal times, they hardly stand out on Israel's busy streets lugging cumbersome bags of groceries or doing other daily tasks. But as the virus has spread, foreign domestic workers have emerged as essential frontline caregivers.

Some faced expulsion to their home countries over visa violations before the crisis.

None are known to have been repatriated since the pandemic began.

In a telephone interview before a visit to the grocery store, Maria, 31, said she was "terrified of catching the virus and passing it on."
"But they all live outside Jerusalem, so they can't even help me with the shopping. I'm completely alone with her," she added. "Between her screams and confinement, sometimes I feel like I am going crazy."