Neha Kumar

Testing positive for COVID-19 has made 29-year-old Neha Kumar rethink and revaluate things that she took for granted in life.

On the 28th of June, Kumar went to a doctor thinking she had a common flu as she had fever, headache, and sore throat.

However, a few days later she tested positive for the virus.

Neha Kumar says processing the news was hard as she was the first one in her family and work circle to test positive for the virus.

The first three days I had really bad fever, a lot of body ache, severe headache and by the fourth day I had lost me sense of smell and taste. From the fourth day to the 14th day, I felt extremely tired. By the 12th day I got my sense of smell and taste back and towards the 15th day I started to feel normal.

29-year-old Kumar says during the three week ordeal, she was scared and didn’t want to get hospitalized.

She had even stopped following the daily news as the COVID death toll was traumatizing because she kept thinking that she could be the next to add to the statistics.

Kumar says she then started developing positive mindset and started paying attention on her recovery.

I took the doctors advise, hydrated myself, took Panadol to look after my symptoms. My doctor had advised me to take care o my nasal area and not to cough a lot because the coughing would put a pressure on the lungs. I also did a lot of home remedy in terms of taking tumeric, ginger and honey , I boiled it in milk and drank it to boost my immune system. I ate a lot of fruit, salad and soup.

Kumar says she did not develop any breathing issues and therefore was not hospitalized.

She had not even informed her parents that she had tested positive until later when she started to recover.

She has received her first dose of the vaccine while her brother who is fully vaccinated did not get sick.

Kumar who has fully recovered is urging every Fijian to get vaccinated and to follow all the safety measures.

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