TIRUPUR: The 48-year-old businessman from Tirupur, who recovered from COVID-19, returned to his home on Monday and is now under home quarantine for two weeks. But, his family will not easily forget the ordeal they underwent during his treatment. It was not the illness that has hurt them but the malicious rumours about the family shared on social media, the businessman’s wife told Express.
"Being a garment exporter, my husband frequently travels aboard. Once in three months, he visits the United Kingdom to meet businessmen and traders. That was how he went to the UK on March 8 and returned to Tirupur on March 15. At that time, he did not have any health issues or symptoms of COVID-19," she told Express
"But, the next day, he had a fever. Since COVID-19 was being widely discussed in the news and other media, his blood samples were taken for testing at the Tirupur government hospital. They told us he had viral fever and doctors prescribed some regular medication," she recounted.
However, the fever persisted for the next three days. Concerned, the family informed the doctors at the GH again. His blood was drawn again to test for COVID-19 on March 19.
“Meanwhile he got a severe cough and cold. It became unbearable for us. Then he started to have difficulty breathing and we got worried," she said.
"The doctors informed us that he had tested positive for COVID-19 and he was shifted to ESI Hospital in Coimbatore on March 21. Blood samples were also taken from our daughter, driver and me. Thankfully, our results were negative," businessman's wife said.
However, while the family was worried for the man’s health, messages on social media started circulating about them. “Even before my husband’s blood test came back positive, social media users started venomously targeting our personal lives,” she said.
"Many users circulated our family photos, taken from my Facebook account and captioned them as 'COVID-19 patients', 'COVID-19 family', on social media. Some people even photographed my house and labelled it as an 'evil house'. This kind of breach of privacy is highly condemnable," she lamented.