They survived the coronavirus: 'Glad to be outside again'

Although the number of people infected with the coronavirus is still increasing, more and more people have been cured of the virus. Three people, who all stayed in Wuhan, China, tell how they found out they had been infected - and what they experienced afterwards.

27-year-old Xiao Yao was traveling through China's Hubei province when he suddenly got very hot. At the time, he was near Wuhan, the city believed to be the origin of the virus. Xiao immediately panicked, he told the French news agency AFP.

"I was afraid I had the virus, but I didn't want to go to the hospital. If I went there, I was afraid I would get completely infected." Xiao himself quarantined in a hotel, but increasingly suffered from a severe cough. When the virus spread in the hotel, he went to the hospital anyway. 

Xiao in the hospital

© AFP

Harsh conditions

In the hospital, Xiao received confirmation of what he already suspected: he was infected. He lay in the room with someone for twenty days: There were no opportunities to bathe. 

Still, Xiao, who was shot outside Wuhan, knew it was much worse in the city itself. "I have friends in Wuhan who went to great lengths to get a hospital bed at all, so I shouldn't be complaining."

On Wednesday, Xiao heard that he had been healed. Now he remains temporarily in quarantine. Then he wants to donate his blood for the experimental treatment of other infected patients.

A patient in Wuhan is being treated

© AFPOnly infected 

The Belgian Philip Soubry (54) also stayed in Wuhan, until he was repatriated to Belgium with eight other compatriots. They were all tested extensively, but Philip was the only one who had the virus among its members. Immediately he was placed in strict quarantine in a military hospital in Brussels.  

Philip Soubry

Still, he wasn't worried. Philip felt healthy, but had to stay in the hospital until the virus had completely cleared from his body. He found the loneliness especially difficult. Doctors and nurses wore special suits and the space around his bed was completely insulated. 

Now that Philip has been declared cured, he is especially happy to finally be outside again. According to his doctors, he is now the 'safest person in Belgium'. 

Belgians from Wuhan had to be quarantined

"I thought I was dying"

With the 21-year-old Tiger, who studies in Wuhan, the complaints started with his appetite. He could barely get anything inside. When he got a fever and started to cough worse, he knew what time it was. 

Things quickly went from bad to worse. "The fever got higher and I was in pain all over my body," Tiger told Bloomberg news agency. Initially, the doctors gave him medicines and he had to be quarantined at home.

Tiger Ye at his home in Wuhan

© Tiger Ye

"Doctors sacrifice themselves"

He had to return four days later, but again the doctors felt he was not sick enough to stay in the hospital as well. It wasn't until he said he was "coughing to death" that he was hospitalized. 

With a drug also used to fight the HIV virus, the doctors managed to ease his fever. Although he was sent away twice, he is full of praise for the doctors. "They continue to help people, although they often think they have been infected by them."