Hoping for a quick end

“I don’t remember the exact date when the ‘ war’ really started, but I do know that I only saw my family once this year,” Janice Pun, a trainee resident physician in the UK, told the Global Times on Christmas Day.

“It was the 10th day after I was diagnosed with COVID- 19. My parents came to my house, putting some basic necessities on the lawn for me. I talked with them from the second- floor balcony, and minutes later they waved goodbye. I could see my mother’s shoulders were shaking as she departed,” Pun recalled to the Global Times while standing outside the respiratory ward of a hospital in London. The 26- year- old doctor herself got infected in July when she drew blood from a pancreatitis patient who held a negative nucleic acid test certificate but was later re- diagnosed as positive. Pun was quarantined at home and had basic treatment by herself. After two weeks of observation with no worsening of symptoms, though Pun’s senses of taste and smell hadn’t fully recovered, she was asked to return to work immediately.

Pun’s New Year’s wish is that the marathon battle against the epidemic will come to an end as soon as possible, so that people can return to normal work and start a new chapter in life.

“What made me feel anxious and sad is that I needed to contact the families of critically ill patients, notifying them that to prevent cross- infection, the hospital allowed only one family member to come for the final farewell.”

As the epidemic in the UK is spiraling out of control, the number of healthcare workers diagnosed with COVID- 19 continues to rise and her hospital is perennially understaffed.

“Fighting the outbreak has become a protracted war,” Pun sighed, noting that now, instead of rushing to find solace with her loved ones via phone calls as before, she is tired of talking anything about her work.

At present, Britain is bearing the brunt of a fast- spreading coronavirus variant. As new mutant cases have been identified, more areas of England have been put under the highest Tier Four restrictions, reports said.

Pun has participated in an investigation to analyze some associated data of novel coronavirus and underlying disease causes. As a doctor of pathology, Pun also hopes the study of COVID- 19 clinical treatments keeps pace with the vaccine development in the new year.

“No matter how hard and tired we are, all we should do is to calmly focus on our role, breathe and keep fighting,” Pun said.