COVID-19 Recovery Is Possible – Respect Docs, Don’t Heed Rumours

A COVID-19 patient’s family had to fend off rumours after he tested positive in Maharashtra.

(Photo: Erum Gour/The Quint)

Video Editor: Prashant Chauhan
Video Producer: Aastha Gulati
Illustration: Erum Gour

I returned to India on 17 March from the UK. I run a sports ticketing company and was on a business trip for the same. I was screened at Mumbai Airport and asked about my travel history. There was a temperature check but no direction to self-quarantine. I was symptom-free the day I had returned but I knew that one could be positive and not show any symptoms. That's why I decided to completely self-isolate and stay away from both my helper and my father.

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I didn't touch any surfaces which were common surfaces in the house. Any surfaces touched by me, which were in my room or my doorknob – if touched by anyone else, they would immediately have to wash their hands. On day 4 or 5, I developed a cough. Next morning, I developed shortness of breath. I immediately knew I was in trouble.

I called my doctor to try and figure out the next steps. The test came back positive and I soon shifted to Wockhardt Hospital's COVID-ICU ward. I wasn't alone at the ward. There were about nine other beds.

Most of our day was either sleeping or on the phone, chatting, watching some videos, keeping in touch with latest news and what’s happening around the world.

I was lucky to have got the chance to recover at a private hospital. I have nothing but respect for Wockhardt Hospital, its facilities and whatever the health professionals have done for coronavirus patients.

‘Rumours Abuzz After I Tested COVID-19 Positive’

Back home, my father had to bear the brunt of several rumours and was blamed for negligence. The government was made aware that I was positive and the BMC showed up at my building, consequently creating chaos in my society and speculation that someone was COVID-positive. Some rumours started that I was roaming around the building etc. My father was threatened and the police were called but thankfully, since the police and the BMC had already taken our entire report, they knew that we were very well secure and both my father and helper had been isolated from me, so there was no scare there.

Fortunately, there were some empathetic neighbours who supported my father and also cheered me on when I came back home after recovering.

Government officials have been checking in on us regularly. We receive a call almost daily from someone new or a new department either, from the BMC ward or the Gamdevi Police Station which is near my house.

I received a call from the Health Ministry about three days ago, all of them asking about how my case is progressing and how I am since I got back home after my two negative tests.

So to everyone who has the virus, don't give up hope, it's a virus that most of us can completely and 100 percent recover from. Unless you have underlying medical conditions or you're really old or weak, you shouldn't even struggle through the recovery bit. Be positive, be kind.

Show your humanitarian side to your neighbours and to the infected and to doctors and nurses who are on the frontline to help us all recover and get over this global pandemic.

(The author wishes to stay anonymous. All 'My Report' branded stories are submitted by citizen journalists to The Quint. Though The Quint inquires into the claims/allegations from all parties before publishing, the report and the views expressed above are the citizen journalist's own. The Quint neither endorses, nor is responsible for the same.)