A year after contracting the novel coronavirus infection, Himachal’s patient zero is still struggling to get life back on track.
Early in 2020, the man had been working as a chef in Singapore when the virus swept across the world consuming lives and jobs in its wake. The man, who lost his job, returned home on March 18 and became one the two first positive cases in Himachal Pradesh on March 20, 2020.
A native of Lunj village in Shahpur sub-division, the 33-year-old was discharged from the hospital on March 29, 2020 after recovery. However, life seemed to turn on its head once he returned home — he and his family were ostracised by the village people, nobody would talk to them and shopkeepers refused to sell them their wares. The situation became so grave that the administration had to intervene.
“Today, I am jobless. Efforts to find a new job have not yielded any results. Now, I am trying to build my life bit-by-bit by starting a new catering business,” said the former Covid patient, who recently welcomed his son.
Upset by the harsh treatment meted out to him by the community, he has chosen to work away from home. Ask him if people still discriminate against his family, he says things have normalised.
“People do jeer at me, but I have stopped taking this seriously,” he says, adding that the reason he faced ostracisation was that people had panicked in those early days of the outbreak as not much was known about the virus and misinformation abound.
{{/usCountry}}“People do jeer at me, but I have stopped taking this seriously,” he says, adding that the reason he faced ostracisation was that people had panicked in those early days of the outbreak as not much was known about the virus and misinformation abound.
{{/usCountry}}“Hopefully, things will get back to normal. This pandemic will be over, and I will get a new job,” he says.
Resurgence of Covid cases
Virus cases that had begun to reduce at the beginning of the year have witnessed resurgence in the hill-state. The surge began in the last week of February.
Himachal has recorded 1,743 new infections till March 18, a rise of over 57% as compared to February when 1,109 cases were reported in the state. Twenty-one people have died due to the virus while active cases have climbed to 1,124 from about 200 in February-end.
The state has recorded 60,389 infections so far while 58,248 people have recovered, and 1,003 people have died. Meanwhile, the state government on Friday imposed new curbs banning the fairs from March 23 onwards and people found without mask would be penalized.
181 new cases
Meanwhile, the state today recorded 181 fresh infections on Friday. Of the new cases, 65 were reported in Una, 52 in Kangra, 24 in Solan, 10 in Shimla, nine in Bilaspur, eight in Mandi, five each in Hamirpur and Kullu and four in Sirmaur.
Shimla is the worst-hit district with 10,649 cases, followed by Mandi with 10,352 cases, and Kangra with 8,894 cases. Solan has 7,003 cases, Kullu 4,490, Sirmaur 3,723, Una 3,429, Hamirpur 3,153, Bilaspur 3,061, Chamba 2,987, Kinnaur 1,390, and Lahaul-Spiti 1,258.