Placed on a quarantine order but can’t resist the urge to go out for bubble tea? Thinking woe is me realising you’ll have to self-isolate at home?
Well, look at this remarkable man.
India Teen Quarantined Himself in Tree for 10 Days
The public health crisis facing India would not have been news to many of us. The threadbare public health system is overwhelmed by the influx of COVID-19 patients, far from enough to accommodate all the new cases diagnosed and needing isolation.
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Enter an eighteen-year-old named Shiva, from Telangana’s Nalgonda district.
He tested positive for COVID-19 at the beginning of May, but the limited healthcare capacity there meant that a quarantine ward was far from available.
To protect his family from the potentially lethal and highly infectious disease, he came up with an unorthodox solution—he’d quarantine himself on a tree.
“There’s no other choice; the five of us (mother, father, sister, brother and I) live in the same room.” He told ThePrint, as reported by Shin Min Daily News.
How touching. Or rather, no-touching.
He moved his bedstead onto the tree for self-isolation, together with a small basket for his phone and other essential belongings, while his meals would be hoisted up with a rope by his family.
While in his treehouse, Shiva would listen to music and read books for his intellectual enlightenment, because if his flesh is battling the scourge of the coronavirus, he must compensate with a renewed strength of mind.
Learn from him, sovereign man. Or the 70 people charged with flouting safe distancing rules.
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After 11 days in hardcore and socially responsible self-isolation, a bed in a quarantine centre seven kilometres away finally opened up. He was promptly transported over, tested negative for COVID-19, and sent back home on his merry way.
Maybe even the spirits of the tree were touched and helped exorcise his coronavirus.
What’s Going on in India Now?
According to Project HOPE, an international humanitarian organisation, the COVID-19 situation in India remains devastating. Even as the number of new cases has slowly decreased, the number of deaths has risen to new highs, with 4,529 reported on 18 May.
This is exacerbated by a severe shortage of oxygen needed to care for patients with serious cases, as well as ICU beds and personal protection equipment. While India has turned to intensified vaccination as a possible solution, only 3% of the population have so far been fully vaccinated.
Equally concerning is the fact that Cyclone Tauktae, classified as an “Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm”, made landfall in the state of Gujarat on Monday, 17 May, This sets the stage for the widespread displacement of persons that can be very conducive for further COVID-19 spreads.
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Featured Image: Smileus/ Shutterstock.com
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