WATCH | Elliotdale Covid-19 survivor tormented on social media

When Ncebakazi Willie disembarked from a cruise liner that had been travelling off the coast of Italy, she knew she needed to be tested for Covid-19 — what she did not, however, expect were the death threats that  came her way. 

Despite the threats of   being stoned to death on the beach or killed in hospital while under quarantine,  Willie is surprisingly nonchalant when telling her story.

Willie, 27,  arrived in East London on March 17 from Cape Town International Airport. She had worn protective gear up until she was tested for the virus at the Madwaleni Hospital near Elliotdale on March 20.

 The woman, who did not want to divulge the name of the cruise company she worked for, found out that her test results were positive just  hours before the 21-day national lockdown came into effect on March 27.

On Monday, she described how she was tormented by people on social media as she tried to recover from the virus. But despite the abuse, she soldiered on and beat the virus to be given a clean bill of health.

Willie, of Fameni village in Elliotdale, said she had to take a taxi from East London Airport to Elliotdale.

Medical staff at Madwaleni Hospital and the support and prayers from family and strangers had carried her through.

“But I had to soldier on. Many bad things were written about me on  social media. I reached a point where I could not take anymore but I had to remove myself from Facebook and concentrate on my health and stay away from the negativity. I was blamed as if I invited the coronavirus for myself,” said Willie.

“People started calling my family the Corona family and I even got an anonymous call saying that they would come to the hospital to kill me.

“Other people told me that there was a group that was planning to stone me to death at the beach.”

Willie was speaking in public for the first time while attending the provincial launch of the national screening, testing and awareness campaign in Elliotdale.

The campaign was led by Eastern Cape health MEC Sindiswa Gomba,  accompanied by education MEC Fundile Gade and members of the Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders and National House of Traditional Leaders.

Willie said after she came back from Italy, where she had been working for six months until the pandemic caused her contract to be frozen,  she  displayed  no symptoms.

“I had no cough, nothing. When I came back from Italy, I decided on my own to be tested and made arrangements with Dr Andrew Miller of Madwaleni Hospital,” Willie said.

“I told him I could not be quarantined at home because there are more than 10 of us at home and would not like to infect my family. The community can transmit the virus to other communities. There was no chance for me to be in quarantine at home so I requested that I be quarantined at the hospital instead.”

She said her test results came back five days later.

“They came back positive. But I kept myself busy with gym and drank a lot of hot fluids and immune boosters and vitamins. There was so much hype on social media that there was a woman from Italy in Fameni who had the coronavirus. I was so emotional. I prayed and decided just to be positive for the sake of my health.” 

Asked why she had gone public, she said, “I saw no reason to hide it.”

Gomba said that the Eastern Cape government was concerned about the growing number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the province.

“During this ongoing campaign set to be rolled out to various districts in the province, all those found with Covid-19-related symptoms will be quarantined and those who test positive will be admitted to hospitals for treatment,” Gomba said.

“As a precautionary measure, we are taking this campaign closer to our people and most those in remote rural areas. The four mobile testing units recently dispatched in the province will alleviate possible bottlenecks at our health facilities.”

The mobile units are in Sarah Bartmaan, the Amathole district and OR Tambo. The Alfred Nzo and Joe Gqabi districts will share one mobile unit. — Additional reporting by The Herald

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