NEW YORK: A group of Nepalis living in Queens of New York has launched a Facebook group to assist one another during the Covid-19 emergency.

The aim of the facebook group ‘Urgent Nepali Aid for Covid19’, now has about 1,000 members, is to connect volunteers with those in need of things like groceries and medicine.

The city is also home to about 14,000 Nepalis, many of whom live in Queens, one of the reasons the Facebook group is specifically focusing on the borough.

“The sole purpose of this group is to provide urgent help to those people who are in need due to this coronavirus pandemic,” Yadab Bastola said.

Merely 12 hours after the Facebook page’s launch on March 23, the Nepalis community received devastating news: Anil Subba, a Nepali, died of the coronavirus at Elmhurst Hospital. Subba was an Uber driver and is survived by his wife, two sons, and a daughter, according to an online fundraiser.

The “Urgent Nepali Aid” Facebook community reached out to the victim’s family to see if they needed help, and a volunteer from the group later picked up medicine and dropped it off at the family’s door, according to Bastola.

New Yorker City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that more than half of New Yorkers will likely be infected by the virus in the next few months, reported City Limits.

Bastola said the group’s volunteers are wearing protective masks while traveling and taking other precautions.

“We only accept volunteers who have their own private vehicles,” he said, “The group has been getting at least 100 calls daily”.

“We are really overwhelmed with these calls these days,” said Ramhari Adhikari, one of the volunteers.