delhi

Updated: Apr 22, 2020 01:43 IST

A food delivery rider from south Delhi who tested positive for Covid-19 said on Tuesday that he has got calls from at least 15 of his customers in the eight days he has spent in quarantine so far. “Almost every one of them spoke with warmth -- some told me to be brave, others told him not to hesitate to call them, if needed,” he said.

They had got his number from their bills.

Only one of them, he added, rudely accused him of “lying about test results”, said the 19-year-old who is in quarantine in a police colony in Mandawali.

A food delivery rider with Box 8 and MOJO pizza -- both of which operate out of the same kitchen in south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar -- said he was initially feeling extremely guilty that he was have infected others.”But when I saw the news on my phone on Monday afternoon, I smiled,” he said. That news he was talking about was that all 16 “high-risk” people who had come in contact with him tested negative, and people from 72 households where he had delivered food over the past month were not showing any flu-like symptoms.

He said that on April 13, when his coronavirus test result was positive, he was petrified.

“The ground under my feet sank. I hadn’t expected it. I thought I would die. I am the youngest of three siblings, and I hadn’t even seen the world yet,” he said.

He first called his manager, and then his elder brother in UP’s Ballia. His father is a farmer and his mother a homemaker.

“I had moved to Delhi for some work this year. A cousin helped me get this job, and my employer provided me with a room in Savitri Nagar,” said the man, who earned a monthly salary of about ₹8,500.

Sometime between March 20 and 25, he got drenched in the rain while out on delivery. He caught a cold, visited a hospital for a check-up, and was given some pills. When his condition didn’t improve, he decided to go to Safdarjung Hospital but did not get diagnosed with Covid-19.

By the end of the month, he had developed a high fever. When his condition still didn’t improve, he went back to Safdarjung Hospital on April 2, but it was only during another visit on April 10, when he told the doctors he had a bad cough, was he told to go to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital for a Covid-19 test.

He was first admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital in Dilshad Garden, and on Monday, moved to a three-room set in a police colony in Mandawali, where three patients are allotted one room each.

He still coughs occasionally but says he is fine. I’ll try to go back to my village to my family once I am discharged.”