Great Dyke News 24 editor Moses Charedzera (MC) interviewed a 36-year-old Harare man, who resides in Mufakose, Gerald Moyo, GM (not his real name as he preferred anonymity) on his recent battle with covid-19. Moyo started experiencing symptoms on Christmas day and decided to get tested on the 31st of December 2020.
MC: What symptoms prompted you to go and get tested?
GM: The symptoms that I felt before I decided to go for the covid-19 test are: high body temperature loss of smell, loss of taste and impartial hearing. My body temperature was fluctuating up and down, and at some point I felt hot later on feeling cold.
MC: What was the test result and how did you receive it?
GM: I did the covid-19 test on the 31st of December 2020 and the result came out positive. It’s a result which I had to accept because once you are positive you are positive. I got tested at Medical Chambers in Harare and I received the results telephonically. Then the document confirming the test results as positive came the same day.
MC: How did the disease progress? How were you feeling?
GM: The virus progressed rapidly in my body from the day I was tested. It is a feeling which I cannot explain because containing it was the hardest part. It took me about five days of hell, five days of sickness, five days of having the virus fully explode in my body and the feeling, like I said is unexplainable because you are feeling weak, the God given twenty-four hours you are sleeping twenty-three hours.
Your body is tired all the time, you can’t walk, you can’t eat but you are also vomiting at the same time and your body is basically numb, you are feeling nothing. But the weakness and dizziness is the most terrible part.
MC: How long did you take to recover?
GM: It took me exactly twelve days to recover but the recovery was not full. After twelve days, I was able to go outside. I was able to talk without difficulties. I was also able to breathe though with a certain degree of difficulty.
MC: What medicines prescribed by the doctor were you using?
GM: The doctor prescribed an antibiotic called azithromycin which I took for four days. The first day of receiving azithromycin was through an injection, then the next three days I was taking azithromycin tablets orally.
The doctor also prescribed multivitamin and vitamin C tablets which I took to boost the immune system.
MC: What home remedies did you use in combination with the medical drugs?
GM: The main home remedy I used was steaming where we would add eucalyptus oil and tsunami and inhale the steam. I also steamed in hot water with garlic, ginger and lemon. As part of other home remedies, I used zumbani and I also drank ginger tea mixed with lemon. These are basically the home remedies which I used, but steaming is the one I want to believe worked for me.
MC: What can you say about your recovery?
GM: My recovery is nothing short of a miracle because when I experienced covid-19 it wasn’t mild. It was full blown and the chances of recovery, I can say were 50/ 50 bearing in mind that my temperature at some point shot up to 38 degrees and then went down to 35 degrees. It could have gone either way, 50 percent recovery and chances were 50 percent I could have died.
MC: What advice can you give to people who get Covid-19?
GM: The advice that I can give to those that are infected with covid-19 and those that will be infected is to self isolate and stay strong and pray and use the home remedies more, especially steaming therapy. That one works as it keeps your nasal system clear, and all the time that I steamed my body felt better.
Then the other advice I can give them is to drink ginger tea. That one clears the throat as it keeps it hot. I was told the virus is always at the back of the throat so having to drink something hot somehow clears the virus bit by bit.
But the main advice is to self isolate so that you do not infect the rest of the people around you.
MC: What advice do you have for the general public?
GM: The general public should take heed of the lockdown measures put in place by the government. If the government says people must stay home, they must comply.
Getting tested is also key for the general public because there are people who are positive but are not showing symptoms of covid-19. Now these people become carriers of the virus and they spread it to others.
So, my advice is people should always mask up. They should always use hand sanitizers. They should always wash their hands but most importantly they should stay indoors so that they don’t get the virus.
My other advice is that if anyone experiences flu-like symptoms for the next 3 to 5 days, diarrhoea, a rash, and coughing they should go and get tested and should the results turn positive, they get proper medical treatment in combination with home remedies.
