When Claudine Uwiduhaye was discharged from Kanyinya Covid-19 Treatment Center after four weeks, she still had a terrible cough, and was too weak to even walk. The doctor told her that her lungs couldhave been permanently deteriorated.

When Claudine narrates her story, she bursts into tears. The 24-year-old single mother has been living in Kigali for three years surviving only on part time domestic jobs. She was providing for her two brothers and her daughter when she left back home in Rusizi district.

She had never fallen sick before and she never thought Coronavirus would take her down like it did. It all began with a headache. She was reluctant to go to the hospital because she thought it would disappear shortly. She was aware that the virus was killing people around the world but she thought a 25-yearold, “healthy strong woman like her would never fall sick from the virus”.

After days of taking pain killers, her cnditions got worse. free 114. When she arrived at the hospital, her blood pressure was dangerously high. She was told that she had Covid-19 and required immediate medical intervention.

She was whisked straight to the Intensive Care Unit. It was touch and go from his first day and his perilous journey was only just beginning. He ended up swallowing 100 Favipiravir Covid-19 tablets that were later replaced by injections. “I could not feel my body when I was taken from home by the ambulance. My eyes and head were in terrible pain. It was one of the most terrifying and painful conditions my body has ever experienced,” she narrates. Claudine spent four weeks in Covid-19 treatment Center. She would see older, sicker people check in and recover between 3 and 4 days. She was confused and embarrassed because, like many other people, she believed Covid-19 gets deadlier with the elderly.

Doctors told her that the medication she was receiving was at times not strong enough. She went from pills, to injection, to syrups and diets. Claudine was very determined to test Covid-19 negative and return home.

When she finally did, her life was changed. She could not walk long distances or do her work like before she got sick.

“The doctor told me that my left lung is severely sick and will remain sick for a long time. I am very weak, always coughing and can’t work anymore. I have to go for a medical checkup for my lung every 10 days.

My life now is both financially and mentally draining,” she recounts. Looking at her life today, Claudine feels sorry for people who still despise Coronavirus. “Coronavirus left me with a lifelong disability. Both me and my loved ones felt the sickness in different ways. Covid-19 is not just flu, it’s a deadly disease that does not only attack one’s body but also finance and mental health,” she said.