‘Yes, I have Covid, but is it my fault?’

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 20

The first Covid case shook the city with people losing their nerve and brewing revulsion for the family that eventually got the strain of the virus.

The 23-year-old girl, who faced the wrath of residents for not getting herself tested on time, said, “I will be blamed for every single case in the tricity. There may be 100 other cases before me in the city, but I will be blamed for all because I had the courage and responsibility to get myself tested.”

She said she had first dialled the Covid-19 helpline in the UK and was denied the test as she had only mild fever, so she took a direct flight to India.

Was staying with suspected patient in London

She said, “When I came to the GMCH-32, I told the authorities there that I was staying with a suspected patient in London and was a little skeptical that I may be affected. Later, the reports of my roommate turned out to be positive.”

She confronted, “If I knew I was infected, I wouldn’t have come to India and put my family at risk. I was on self-quarantine for two days and did not meet people.”

About meeting 12 people, she said she made all these engagements on Sunday, a day before she noticed any symptoms. She said she even warned her contacts to quarantine themselves if they noticed any symptom.

On breach of privacy, she said, “I don’t know why my identity was leaked on the social media. All I got was insult. Instead of keeping my identity secret, not only mine but information of my loved ones is being passed on groups. Videos of my house are being passed on, which is sad and hopeless situation.”

She said she was getting food from home as food from outside was not allowed to be transited inside the hospital. For treatment, she was being given Paracetamol.

Her mother, who has been admitted to the GMCH 32, is stable, but has fever and body ache at intervals.

“What we need to realise at this time is that it’s an hour of panic and we really need not create more. We need to be together through this and not subject others who get tested positive through mental trauma,” she said.