Photos: In Italy, a nurse’s day fighting a pandemic

The coronavirus brings with it forced isolation on many fronts as family are barred from visiting hospitalised relatives, nursing homes close their doors to outsiders and people with mild cases are quarantined. But frontline heatlcare workers like Italian nurse Cristina Settembrese, brave all as they spend days caring for COVID-19 patients putting themselves at risk and their lives on hold.

Updated on: Apr 20, 2020 4:26 PM IST

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Nurse Cristina Settembrese leaves the COVID-19 ward of San Paolo hospital in Milan. The coronavirus brings with it forced isolation of several sorts -- family members can’t visit hospitalised patients, nursing homes bar outsiders and people with mild cases or who have been in contact with infected persons must stay in quarantine. (Luca Bruno / AP)

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Cristina Settembrese has her temperature checked by colleagues at the Hospital. For healthcare workers like Settembrese who spend their days caring for COVID-19 patients in a hospital ward, finally heading home after a shift signals a personal isolation that is also a necessary precaution. (Luca Bruno / AP)

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Cristina Settembrese fixes two face masks on top of each other during her work shift in the COVID-19 ward. The 54-year-old has been a nurse since she was 18. Two months ago, the infectious disease ward where she works started treating only COVID-19 patients. (Luca Bruno / AP)

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Cristina Settembrese speaks to a colleague through a window in the ward. All of a sudden, she had to learn how to operate machines she likens to “helmets” to help patients breathe. She studied the operating instructions at home in a kind of self-taught cram course. (Luca Bruno / AP)

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Settembrese walks her dog Pepe before work begins for the day. Two days after Italy’s first confirmed case in late February, she sent her 24-year-old daughter, Rebecca, from their home in the Milan suburb of Basiglio to live with her sister. The nurse was worried she might inadvertently infect her daughter. (Luca Bruno / AP)

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Cristina Settembresse chats with Rebecca, who leans over a first-floor balcony, whenever Settembrese can pass by. A single parent, her only companion now in her apartment is her Chihuahua, Pepe, who gets bundled in a faux leopard-skin coat for a walk. (Luca Bruno / AP)

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Settembrese is seen with her colleagues during the night meeting at the end of her work shift. Before she leaves work for the night, she reviews with her colleagues how the patients are faring. Not just how well they are breathing but whether they feel angry or distraught because relatives have died from COVID-19. (Luca Bruno / AP)

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Settembrese shares food and Easter eggs with colleagues at the hospital. Walking Pepe and chatting with fellow dog owners at a safe distance “is my only social life,” Settembrese told the AP. But Settembrese speaks of her new family — her patients and colleagues — with whom she has forged bonds in these past fraught weeks. (Luca Bruno / AP)

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Settembrese makes a video call to say goodnight to her parents near her home, after her work shift ends. (Luca Bruno / AP)

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Cristina Settembrese is reflected in a mirror in her apartment in Basiglio. Once off-duty, the nurses call each other to ask how their patients are doing. “We feel a little like we’re their family,” Settembrese said. “They are patients who enter into your soul.” (Luca Bruno / AP)