Fear Not! First Filipino Covid-19 positive Says So

Something we can win over

By: Olyssa Lee D. Castulo

Carlo Navarro, the first Filipino who was diagnosed with Covid-19, has shared his journey in fighting this new foe.

Conquerable, is what Carlo emphasizes in his video testimony to educate everyone that Covid-19 is something that we can win over.

Navarro was tested in St. Luke’s Hospital and was diagnosed positive two days after the test.

“The scariest moment was, maybe started on the fourth day-”, Carlo stated, “-when people who got admitted the same time as me, they started dying”, the virus challenges not only the health and physicality of an infected but their mental capacity as well.

As this is a new disease, everyone is in the dark when it comes to finding ways to fight but Carlo held onto his faith, “...every time I feel fear, I would immediately call my wife and daughter just to give me a … to suspend the reality that I was in a hospital,” and with the help of his family, he made an inexplicable feat through his recovery.

This novel coronavirus was first reported by officials in Wuhan, China in December 2019.

The first case of Covid-19 was reported in the Philippines in January 2020 with a total of three (3) confirmed cases.

Carlo Navarro was the fourth patient who was admitted to test positive for Covid-19, he was admitted to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and was released after fifteen (15) days of quarantine.

Meanwhile, it is in the month of March 2020 when the Philippine government first declared nationwide quarantine.

As of December 2020, the Philippines has already reached 456,562 total confirmed cases of Covid-19, there are 420,666 recovered cases and 8,875 deaths.

People who once feared Covid-19 and once see the virus as a horrifying shadow of death have begun to adapt to the new normal and become more optimistic with the success of Covid-19 vaccines.

The difficulty of this new normal system is undeniable and has taken a toll on the world, but humanity is known to be resilient since the beginning of our existence.