Pandemic triggering orphan crisis in India

Twin sisters Tripti and Pari, who lost both their parents due to the coronavirus, play with their toys at a relative's home in Bhopal. Photos: AFP

Three days after their father died of coronavirus, six-year-old twins Tripti and Pari were found sleeping next to their mother, unaware that she had also become a victim.

Thousands of children have lost one or both parents in the new pandemic wave ravaging India, where there were already millions of orphans. The prospect of a surge of abandoned minors worries many.