Report from DaLian, China

Below is a telephone interview that took place with a confirmed positive case of a student being treated in Beijing, Ditan hospital at present.

Following the discussion with the interviewee, she hoped that we would call her Tian.

Tian is a girl who are studies at one of London’s most prestigious universities. She said that once her university changed to online sessions, she decided to go back to China. Her flight back home was on the 17^th of March. From London to Moscow, and Moscow to Beijing.

Jessie: When did you know you were among the confirmed cases?

Tian: I arrived in Beijing on the 18^th and before you land at Beijing airport you have to complete a “Health form” to explain whether you have any existing symptoms or took any medicine in the last 14 days. I had no idea at that time that I am a positive carrier because I did not have any symptoms at all. But I did take ibuprofen for my otitis media problem. So, I wrote down I ate ibuprofen in the last 14 days. After I got off the plane, there was an ambulance take me immediately to the Ditan hospital for testing. I spent the whole night at hospital because they did not allow us to go anywhere else before the result come out and on the 19^th I have received the message that I was confirmed on COVID-19.

Jessie: Tell me a little me more about the environment in the hospital and your state

Tian: To be honest, I was shocked when I got the message. Because I did not feel unwell. The good thing is that the doctor told me that my symptoms are not serious. So hopefully, I can get out quickly. DiTan hospital is super busy currently, so at the very beginning I had to share a room with 3 other patients. Doctors do not allow us to leave the ward at any time of the day because this is an infectious disease. And because I went directly to the hospital all my luggage are still in the airport – I only have my phone and my passport with me.

After I spent 20 days with my three roommates, I got a chance to move to the single room because they told me I nearly recovered. During that time, my states did get worst at the end of March, I started to have a continuous cough to the point where I couldn’t even sleep at night.

I got really depressed sometimes and that made it even more emotional with this on-going situation but gladly one of the doctors – whose name I don’t know because they all wearing the same protective suit to cover their whole body (which make me confused sometimes about who is who) – always came and spoke with me on my health. This helped me a lot with my negative thoughts.