Coronavirus: New mother beats Covid twice in UAE, returns to frontline

Dubai - Blessy Babu, a registered nurse, had tested positive for Covid-19 in March 2020 for the first time, when she was 15 weeks pregnant.

A 29-year-old Indian nurse in Dubai has beaten Covid-19 for the second time in a year and is back on duty to serve the country she has called home for many years now.

Blessy Babu, a registered nurse, working at Medeor Hospital in Dubai, had tested positive for Covid-19 in March 2020 for the first time, when she was 15 weeks pregnant. “My family was worried about my health and the consequences it would have on my pregnancy as I was expecting my first baby. Covid-19 had just started spreading in the UAE at that time and not much was known about it, which added to our worries,” she recalled.

Fortunately, she was asymptomatic and did not suffer from any medical complications. “I had tested positive during a routine test at the hospital. It was unexpected. I was one of the first staff to test positive in our hospital. Although I was hospitalised, I tested negative in two weeks,” Blessy said. Though she was staying with her husband Jaison P George, he did not test positive.

But the virus struck again on February 26 this year and this time it returned with severe symptoms. To make matters worse, it also impacted her husband, kid and elderly mother who was visiting her.

“It seemed like the virus was back with a vengeance this time as we both had severe symptoms. The first time, it was just me. This time, it was worse. I had all the symptoms. Even my husband turned positive, and he was symptomatic as well. We were worried about the health of our six-month-old child and my mother, who had recently come from Kerala. Both of them were coughing and had all the symptoms, but we couldn’t get them tested as we were all sick. So all we did was treat our symptoms and prayed for everyone to recover.”

“It started with severe body pain in the beginning. I sensed the chance for reinfection and took a Covid-19 test. I also isolated myself in a room. The result, as I feared, was positive. My husband also started manifesting symptoms and turned out to be positive. We had severe fever, throat pain, headache, and all common symptoms,” she said.

Blessy said she had not taken a Covid vaccine as she nursing a baby.

The health of the baby and aged mother kept worrying the couple, but they treated their symptoms and managed to overcome the disease. “It took both of us about two weeks to turn negative. We were unable to get my mom and kid tested as they had mild symptoms and we were too sick to take them for the test, but by God’s grace, they also recuperated with us.

Blessy joined duty the very next day after she turned negative as she was keen to keep serving the people of the UAE, which she calls her home away from home.

saman@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai