Hyderabad: With no proper place to isolate at his home, an 18-year old student from Nalgonda, Telangana spent 11 days on a tree near his home after being tested positive for COVID-19.
Fearing that he might infect his parents and sister if he stays in the house, Ramawat Shiva Naik isolated himself on a tree for 11 days after testing positive on May 4.
As per a report by The Print, Shiva decided to build himself a COVID-19 ‘ward’ — a bed made of bamboo sticks fastened to the branches of a tree in the compound of his home.
Shiva took the decision, keeping in mind the well-being of his family members. With a family of four people, Shiva said that he cannot let anyone get affected because of him, and that’s why he decided to isolate on a tree which is located within the compound of his home.
“There was no isolation centre here. Two days ago, they converted the ST hostel into a centre … up until then we had nothing and I don’t know if there are any such centres in other villages … I don’t think so. What else can I do?,” Shiva told The Print.
Since he had learnt that Covid-infected people are suffering from low saturation level, he chose the tree for his isolation hoping that this will help him maintain good oxygen levels.
He selected a tree in front of his house as the isolation facility. The tree, which is called ‘Ganuga’ in Telugu (Pongame tree), is also said to have some medicinal properties.
Shiva remained in touch with family and friends through his mobile phone, which also proved useful to kill the time. He sent a few messages calling up on local authorities to set up an isolation centre in the area.
Responding to his appeal and growing requests from people in his village and about a dozen other villages, the authorities set up an isolation centre late last week. They converted a hostel meant for students belonging to Scheduled Tribes into an isolation centre. They also persuaded Shiva to move to the centre. He will soon be completing his isolation period.
Shiva’s incident highlighted the problems faced by Covid infected in villages. Living in small houses with no or single washroom, they can’t isolate themselves.
In some instances, last year and also during the ongoing second wave, individuals who test positive were not allowed to enter into villages. At few places, COVID-19 infected patients are living in isolation either in huts outside the villages or in the fields.
(With Agency Inputs)