On a recent rainy evening in East London, dozens of young people lined up outside a cramped community hub to collect rice, vegetables and other food essentials. In the line were foreign students who came to Britain to pursue their dreams of higher education, but have found themselves plunged into pandemic-driven poverty. “Finding food here is hard – prices are higher compared to India,” said Jay Patel, an Indian student among those waiting outside the Newham Community Project, a local charity handing out the foodstuffs. The 19-year-old, who is studying at the University of Greenwich in southeast London, said he has been unable to get a part-time job during the health crisis and could not ask his family back in India for money. The food bank, which conducts the handouts three nights a week, has become a lifeline for Patel and other foreign students facing a similar plight. “I actually arrived at the wrong time,” he added of coming to the UK. “It’s a very difficult situation. Without this support, I guess we would have to start starving.” Britain – which is among the hardest hit countries in Europe from the coronavirus, registering nearly 120,000 deaths and severe economic...