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WATCH | Contracting Covid-19 was a cathartic experience, says survivor

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  • Hector Eliott was diagnosed with Covid-19 earlier this year.
  • He still has no idea when or where he contracted the deadly virus. 
  • Eliott recovered and while he is grateful that the incident is behind him, he described it as a cathartic experience.

Prior to being diagnosed with Covid-19 in March, Capetonian Hector Eliott says he was not really following the story avidly.

The managing director of Bearfish Strategic Services in Hout Bay said he was immersed in his work instead.

Eliott still does not know when or where he contracted the deadly virus. 

"It was a hell of a surprise that I ended up contracting it. I just didn't expect that it would happen to me because I was careful," he told News24.

What began as a routine operation just before lockdown, ended with him in ICU. A day after his operation, he developed a fever and nausea, but displayed no respiratory symptoms. A few days later, when the symptoms incapacitated him, he went to the emergency room.

Here, Eliott was initially diagnosed with sepsis. He was eventually tested for Covid-19 and when the results came back positive, he said he was relieved.

"In a way it was almost a relief, because it wasn't sepsis."
Hector Eliott

Although he is happy the entire ordeal is behind him, Eliott described it as a cathartic experience, one that rejuvenated him in a sense.

He celebrated being cleared of the virus with some leftover beers "from before the lockdown". 

Hector Eliott, cape town, covid-19, survivor,
Hector Eliott, has recovered from the deadly coronavirus disease.
News24 Aljoscha Kohlstock

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