I was initially assigned to the COVID ward [at a Mahim-based hospital] and served there for a month. I was then moved to the regular ICU and told that if needed, I'd be called to the COVID ICU. In the meanwhile, I was on night duty," says a 24-year-old healthcare worker, who requested that we not identify her for this article. On the third night of the duty, she started feeling ill and by the fourth night, she had a running nose, headache, body ache and couldn't sleep. A test on May 14, results of which came the next day, confirmed that she had tested positive for the novel Coronavirus. After initial treatment at a Dadar centre, she was sent home for quarantine and resumed work in June. While she no longer had symptoms, the weakness continued. The worst was still not over.

Again, while on night duty on July 5, her fever spiked. "It was so sudden. I had just received a patient in the ICU and my temperature registered at 37.7 C [99.86 F]. I took the elevator to the casualty ward and they wanted to check my temperature again. They insisted as I was 'warm'. And I registered 100.4 F." Shivering and with body ache, she popped an analgesic for it. After all, it couldn't be COVID. She had just recovered from the infection and knew that "a recurrence doesn't occur".