NEW DELHI, India (AP) — From her village in eastern India, 15-year-old Jyoti Kumari reflected on her desperate 1,200-kilometre (745-mile) bicycle journey home with her disabled father that has drawn international praise.

Kumari said that she and her father risked starvation had they stayed in Gurugram, a suburb of New Delhi, with no income amid India's novel coronavirus lockdown.

The daughter and father arrived in Darbhanga, their village in Bihar state, more than a week ago, reuniting with Kumari's mother and brother-in-law, who'd left the capital region after the lockdown was imposed on March 25.

Upon their arrival, village officials placed Kumari's father in a quarantine centre, a policy many State and local governments in India have implemented to try to keep returning migrants from spreading the virus.

Kumari heard about the special trains, but her father, unable to walk, wouldn't have been able to reach the railway platform.