Be aware, but don't panic

Hyderabad: "What you see on social media is just one side of the coin," says a Mass Communication student, Sandhya Reddy.

Being a Mass Communication student and almost at the end of the academic year, Sandhya was forced to go out for an assignment related work.

Despite taking all the necessary precautions, Sandhya was infected by the virus. It was the next day when she started witnessing symptoms like throat pain and a high temperature.

"I went out for an assignment which was very important and had to get it done as early as possible. I had taken all the necessary precautions including wearing masks, having my own sanitizer and maintaining social distancing. After I came home, I also took a hot water shower. But somehow, I got infected. My temperature was high, I had 104 degree along with cold and throat pain," shares Sandhya.

She believes that at least she was fortunate enough that no one else from her family got infected. After being tested positive, she isolated herself in her room and took all the necessary measures under the guidance of her doctor.

For Sandhya, being tested positive was definitely a horrible experience as she was not mentally prepared of what is to be done.

She adds, "None of us would even imagine of being effected by this deadly virus and so dint I. Everyone were in shock as it was only me who was tested positive in my family, while the rest of them were tested negative. However, after a day it dint feel like I was tested positive as I got active and was able to do my work. But it is very important for everyone to understand the importance of taking necessary precautions during these hard times. Though one might be symptomatic or asymptomatic, it was very important to take care of your diet and immune system. If you witness even a small change in your body, be it a mild fever or pain in any of the body part, consult a doctor as soon as possible."

The social media has become a platform that has been creating a lot of misinformation and also creating a lot of panic amongst the locals especially related to the virus.

Sandhya also believes that social media these days is creating even more misinformation and misleading people, which in turn is making the people get panic when they are tested positive.

She adds, "It is true that there are cases and many deaths taken place, but this is only showing one side of a coin, but there is also high recovery rate which needs to be highlighted rather than creating panic about situation."

From her experience and recovering from the virus, she requests people not to getpanickedand try being mentally strong. She shares, "During this time, it is very important to stay hydrated, check temperature and oxygen levels for every 2 hours, eat healthy food, treat the symptoms individually, drink warm water, take zinc, vitamin c tablets, breathing exercise daily twice."

As of now, Sandhya has no symptoms and has been completely recovered under the guidance of her doctor.

"My doctor suggested, it is very important to take care for 1 more month because our body is completely weak, so need to take all the measures like taking healthy food, breathing exercise, drinking excess water," concludes Sandhya.