STRANGE INFORMATION

DAY 1
Due to the strange state the world is currently in, I figured I should keep a diary to document
these times.
Well, my name is Edward. I’m a General surgeon in Wuhan Central Hospital, Hubei, China. I
think I should say from the start that I don’t believe in the chruch, I don’t show that of course.
Yeah well umm, that's a bit about me, I just hope I stay alive aaaaand onto the actual news...
Early this morning I received news from my friend, which had recently fled to London, about a
strange illness which was infecting hundreds of people and making them sick in mere days.
The news was a little scary, but I reckon that we will be safe since there is no official statement
from the government so all of these might just be fake news and being in the amidst of all the
Chinese New Year Preparation it gave me a sense of relief, assuring me that everything is fine....
Anyway, my friend, William, who traveled to London calls me every day via WhatsApp warning
me to leave the city and come to London as soon as possible and I told him it is going to be fine
but I’ve also noticed that he’s been getting paler and thinner every day I see him in a video call, I
truly hope that he is fine.

PANIC STRIKES THE CITY

DAY 2
I’ve not written in my diary lately, because I’ve become overloaded with work at the Hospital as
swarms of new patient’s get admitted with severe conditions such as pneumonia, fever and cold.
My friend, Will h-he died a few days after he arrived in London, In fact I think he might have the
illness he told me about. What’s worse, I think that Will may have spread this illness to other
people in the city.
I turned on the news today. It’s getting bad. Something is wrong here. This illness was classified
as a new virus outbreak called the coronavirus; it’s just spreading massively. The news anchor
looked scared. Some of the footage they showed really disturbed me, I thought it was best to get
out of this city, I was going to get a rental car, and hit the back roads as fast as possible. I also
heard on the news that they’re putting millions of people under quarantine- preventing many cars
from getting out of Wuhan, and all of this still feels surreal.
I called my Mom toady, too. There have been several cases reported in Orlando, USA and the
number are expected to grow. She told me the what I already know: Stay away from the airports.
I promised her I’m coming home as fast as possible. I think I’ll feel a lot better when I’m at
home, but I still can’t believe that this is happening in the middle of the Lunar New Year a time
of peace and prosperity.
LOSS OF MYSELF
DAY 3
It’s been a month since my dad has passed away and since I’ve last written – something
happened deep within me which kept me busy from writing here.
It all started 1½ months ago where my dad (a doctor) went to attend an International Conference
on Medical and Health Science in the city of Wuhan, China. I thought everything will be alright
as he is just gone for a few days but then suddenly I hear my dad call home one day saying that t
hat somethig is not right in Wuhan and there has been a outbreak of an new virus. He said to tell
mom that he will be back home as soon as possible.
After he arrived he looked more petrified, ghastly and very sick. He couldn’t sleep for days even
though he reached home safe and sound. I quickly knew that something was very wrong with hi
m, I and mom took him to the hostipal.
The doctor quickly admitted him to the emergency ward and some time later came to us and said
that he was suffering from severe case of Pneumonia one that is never seen before, he is in his en
d stage and it would only be a matter of time before he.....
Well, after the words that came out of the doctors mouth my mom was devasted- with tears rollin
g down her cheeks. It aches my heart too seeing my parents in a situation like this, we both gathe
red our wits and informed our relatives about his health.
Over the next few days me and my mom have been spending days with him, taking care of him u
ntil he left us. Forever..
I wasn’t even present in his funeral as it world just add to the pain that I was already feeling. But
I do feel lighted now after I have written about this incident.
Dad, I Love You

DUTY CALLS
DAY 4
The past 2 days were really exhausting for me as I was repeatedly working as a machine with
only running, talking, and running being my instructions.
It started when I was called the day before today during the morning and said that I was
appointed to Huoshenshan Hospital (an emergency specialty field hospital constructed recently)
for the 36 hours of shift and I also brought my diary to the hospital so that I could record these
dark times.
I left swiftly to the hospital but before I go into duty, I had to get geared up by wearing a hazmat
suit (hazardous materials suit), and this felt that I was going to go to war but also boosted my
confidence that I will stay alive.
My choices as a Head Nurse in the emergency room are up or out. Up, for the very sick indeed.
Stretchers in hallways, patients languishing with coronavirus without attention for hours, other
nurses stretched to the breaking point; all of it has become business as usual.
I start my shift inheriting 16 patients at 10 am in the waiting room all suffering from server
symptoms of coronavirus such a pneumonia, sweltering fever and cold. I read the casefile of
each patients which all have one common point they were all attacked by the aggressive strains
of bacteria (coronavirus) by human to human contact. Each of the patients look very cold, pale
and motionless, ghastly and more so they lost their hope of survival.
I decide to take a technical team with me to give some antibiotics to the patients and see that if it
makes them feel better, but it turns out that antibiotics are not that effective. We turn to the
doctors and ask them for suggestions they say that put them on ventilators, give them drips of
saline and then for every 2 hours give them the Peaceful Palace Bovine Pill (traditional Chinese
medicine). I have been doing this in with the technical team in shifts, but nothing seems to get
better.
At the end of my exhausting shift 3 of the 16 patients struggle to breath and the pulse rate falls
rapidly, I look at the senior doctor in the room. He knows I’m asking if there is anything else, we
can do, and he shakes his head. We record the time of death. There is a silent pause in the room.
Before it passes, the unit secretary hands me the packet of paperwork for the deceased.
He said, nothing is now in our hand only God can take of this mess.

THE CURE
DAY 5
My sleep was restless last night. It’s not that I’m not okay, I’m fine. Perfectly fine. My name is
Steven Robertson a retired virologist and for the past 30 years I worked in the Beijing virology
medical research center.
It’s 212 days into this mess, now I am working in an underground laboratory in Shanghai, China
with supplies almost running out and I am in the brink of finding a cure for this epidemic.
I am not working for the government, I am working alone but I have access to the things that
people are not supposed to have access for but in an epidemic, I don’t think people really care
anymore, I’m here to protect myself and the rest of mankind. I have people willing to take
themselves up as test subjects, But I’m not ready for that yet as I still have no idea what’s going
on or how it ends up.
But for now, I just got to keep testing on mice, I don't think any animal lovers will stop me when
we are doing this in the middle of deadly virus outbreak, as every human care about themselves,
their families and friends, wanting to get out these dark days. People have lost hope for the cure
to be found that is why I suppose everyone is calling these times as Dark Days.
I am now working with a small team of 5 people we have tested multiple medicines used to a
wide range of chemicals together, we are now preparing for our first human test. Even though we
don’t know how this started. We found a way to inject the samples of coronavirus from human’s
blood into the mice, making the mice, to show the symptoms of the virus in just a few days, now
this new chemical that we have created was injected back into their bloodstream and this actually
changed them back to normal but it took a week though for this to occur.
But maybe this could be the answer... No... This is the answer.....
I really hope so.......

EERILY EMPTY NEIGHBOURHOOD

DAY 6
Today, I looked outside of the window of my apartment - empty streets, eerily quiet
neighborhood, some flickering streetlights, and one giant LED screen playing the public service
announcement, advising people to stay indoors. It almost feels like a scene from a zombie movie.
It's been 5 days and I am going crazy - it's ironic that when I was working, I always wanted to
stay at home and rest, but now that I am spending almost my entire time at home, it feels like
torture.
I try to distract myself and keep my mind fresh: I read books, I make podcasts, I watch films,
trying my best to make sure this whole mess doesn't get me. I also watched a video of people of
Wuhan singing their national anthem and shouting from their homes to keep their morale high.
They said “Add oil! You can do this! Don’t give up!” it really made me happy and I wanted to
cry at the same time, as it not only boosted their morale, but it did boost mine too.
Today also turns out to be the fifth day of Chinese New Year so according to traditions, people
are supposed to go to temples and pay tribute to the God of Wealth today. Most of the businesses
should be open today, too.
People should be hustling- bustling and lively noises should come from the neighborhood but in
a condition of a epidemic like this one everything seems to be empty - strangely empty. The
memory of walking around my neighborhood is completely sealed off.
"Dumbstruck" is probably the best word to describe how I feel in such a situation as it had never
happened - not in my life.
But at least the weather is getting better and also the hopes of the people, as now there have been
widespread confirmed news that there is an antidote found for this virus and it will be quickly
distributed across the regions of China and the World affected due to coronavirus.
I hope everything is going to be fine...

THE ROAD TO RECOVERY

DAY 7
I am happy to be back as the girl who skipped along through life with her crazy curly hair
bouncing around. Now a week has passed in My name is Emma and I am a student studying in
Wuhan Yangtze International School, I was infected with coronavirus during the start of the
epidemic.
I was quarantined and taken away from my family to Huoshenshan Hospital where I was treated,
everyday there felt like an absolute torture – not because of the ways the doctors treated me but
because of the horrifying noises and sights that I see and listen too every day. And at all the
times doctors were running like athletes around the place, working non-stop 24x7.
I know that the government is trying to do their best to contain this outbreak but it seems that
most people were feeling that nothing was working, but the doctors never seemed to lose hope in
curing their patients and it is that hope which led to the finding of an antidote by Dr. Steven
Robertson.
The vaccine was soon distributed and was put into tests with me being the first patient from
being cured from it- although it did take a week or more to be back to normal, I really thank the
gods, the doctors and Dr.Steven for curing me from this deadly illness that took a toll on more
than 600 unfortunate people in China.
Today, I just have been shifted from the emergency center to a normal hospital and kept under
observation.
I hope everything goes back to normal...No.. Everything will definitely go back to normal
WEEK 2: -
The Lunar New Year had come at a worst time in China. My family had already planned some
trips during the week, and we're supposed to go to my grandparents in India. Of course, all of
this has been cancelled, but the thought of what this could have been is making what this ended
up being even more unbearable.
On New Year's Eve, my parents slept early because the Lunar New Year has been ruined - no
family visitors, no entertainment, but more importantly, a constant fear looming the entire family
and in Changsha.
Staying at home I do the same thing every day: Eat, Do Homework, Sleep in a loop as if I was a
tape recorder. At my home we take special precautions by wearing masks, staying indoors, hand
sanitizing and giving confidence to each other.
At this point we are anxiously waiting for the epidemic to end.