Purab Kohli reveals how he and his family got down with Covid-19, says “Once panic sets in, it’s not easy to handle”

Actor Purab Kohli shares that initially he wasn’t taking the symptoms seriously, but his wife Lucy was worried as her cough and cold didn’t feel normal.

Actor Purab Kohli’s social media post sharing how he and his family including his wife, Lucy, daughter Inaya and son Osian, “were down with Covid-19”, was both heart-warming and informative. His revelation shocked everyone and his phone hasn’t stopped buzzing since the post went live. Kohli says the idea to share their experience was to help people fight the crisis in a panic-free way. Here’s what he told us from London:

Actor Purab Kohli, who is in London, took to social media to reveal that he and his family were down with Covid-19 (Instagram/purab_kohli)

When did you start getting those symptoms and when did you do the test?

We haven’t had the test done yet. In UK, there was no facility. Just on Tuesday, I heard about a private hospital providing the test but I am not sure if that’s fully accurate at the moment. Also, only when a key health worker falls sick or when someone is extremely serious, tests are being done. For others, there’s an emergency number for information about the virus and one can discuss symptoms, and get advise. They also tell you to stay at home and only when you feel extreme breathlessness, and the condition is serious, you must call the ambulance. We couldn’t test because our symptoms were mild to medium but were in discussion with the GP (general physician).

My daughter got it first on the weekend, my wife got it on Monday and I got it on Tuesday. My son’s temperature started with about 99-100 on Wednesday and by night he got 104 degrees fever. Though I didn’t think that we got the virus, and even my children were doing fine, but my wife was pretty sure she never felt this cough before. Then my cough started setting in and we started feeling breathless too. And the GP told us that the first 7-8 days from the day we started getting the symptoms are crucial, and after that you aren’t contagious any more. In UK, you can go out, exercise and it is a little more lenient than other countries. But then we stopped stepping out immediately. What really hit the nail was when my daughter’s friend’s mother got serious and hospitalised. My daughter and her friend were playing a lot so we got convinced that we had Covid-19. In fact, many of this young boy’s other friends and family also started getting symptoms. Now we’re getting the test done.

There are still a lot of misconceptions around the virus and it effects. Please share about your journey to recovery?

We all know enough already and that the virus is new, and so there’s no medicine. And that the body needs to build the anti-bodies. So we need to build our immunity system. There are a few things that I just normally have been doing since a kid, like having the ginger haldi, clove, pepper, honey and cinnamon boiled in water. We all drink that. We’ve also been doing salt water gargles, steam and taking Ayurvedic medicines that I got from India. Since we started feeling breathlessness and chest congestion from the eighth or ninth day onwards, all these things helped. We also tried staying calm, meditate, do yoga and concentrated on our breath. Panic sets in easily, so we tried relaxing and cut ourselves from all the negativity via any source - be it social media, news, Whatsapp and followed only authentic source of information.

Was the emotional struggle difficult much like the physical recovery?

Yes... While I wasn’t taking it seriously, Lucy was worried. Once panic sets in easily, it’s not easy to handle. So we decided to slow down and take it easy. As I said, we kept the phone away as that was a big distraction. We focused on ourselves. We keep ourselves hydrated with water, lots of juices, got our vitamin and mineral intakes right. Keeping our mind clear, focusing on positives gave us strength. We’ve also started doing light exercise. You must give yourself time to recover and rest, rest and rest.

What more would you like to say about battling the crisis?

I’ve this childhood friend who is worried about his parents who are old and have diabetes and heart conditions. So when I spoke to him, he gave me strength and also suggested that I record a video and put it up as my journey would help others. But I didn’t do it initially as we weren’t sure. What I did then was send messages to my close friends and family. But as days passed by, I could see the panic growing and we also kind of got confirmation, that’s when I decided to post. So I just want to say keep calm and accept and face it.

Now that your quarantine period is over, what precautions are you all taking? And what were the kinds of help that you have received and have been getting even now?

We were in quarantine for 17 days. We are still in isolation. There’s a group in every neighbourhood here, and the idea is to help those in need and those who can’t step out given the ailment. They helped us with veggies and other basic amenities. Now that I’m doing better, I’ve also started doing the same. The situation all over the world is vulnerable and we all know that the virus is rampant in Europe... In London, anybody and everybody might have it and therefore, the situation is a bit crazy here. The government and medical workers, police… are doing their best. And we all are doing everything following proper social distancing norms.

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