Latheesh C.L. has just one thing to say: “Stay home, stay safe”, for he is a COVID-19 survivor. It is good to be at home, he says. He has to observe a 28-day quarantine before moving out.
“We [online cab drivers] were aware of the danger but never expected to face it,” says Latheesh, who took the Mattancherry native while on a return trip from the airport. The passenger was already sick when he arrived on March 16, and the airport staff helped him into the cab on a wheelchair.
“I was apprehensive, but the airport staff said he had pain in the legs, hence needed assistance. But once I started to drive, he asked me if he could lie on the seat. When we reached the destination, he had already slept, and I had to wake him up. That was the only personal contact I had with him. But, of course, the air-conditioner of the car was on,” recalls Latheesh. The passenger was later tested positive for COVID-19 and died while undergoing treatment.
Latheesh started showing symptoms on March 20 with a slight fever. “On March 23, I got a call from the Regional Transport Office and then the Health Department, informing me that I was one of the primary contacts of a COVID-19 patient. I panicked first but then decided to face it,” he says. The Health Department advised him to remain in quarantine. “The Corona Control Room would call me to find out how I was doing. On March 25, I could not pick up the phone, but when I called them back on March 26 morning, I was told that the Mattancherry native’s wife too had been admitted to hospital with symptoms and suggested that he also get tested. I got admitted and got tested the same day. By evening, I was told that I had been tested positive for the disease,” Latheesh recalls.
He was glad that his folks at home were safe. His wife was also tested for the disease, but the tests returned negative.
