MAXIME’S DIRE BUG WARNING
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MAXIME MBANDA might have faced England in the final round of the Six Nations Championship a week ago – in more normal times.
But rugby is now the furthest thing from the Italy flanker’s mind. He is working on the frontline of his country’s desperate fight against coronavirus as an ambulance driver, doing what he can to help turn the tide of death in his country. Mbanda has no medical training but he has physical strength and resilience and has decided to use it where it is most needed.
He said: “I started eight days ago, without a day’s break and with shifts of 12 or 13 hours. But faced with what I see in the infectious disease rooms, I tell myself that I can’t be tired. “Fear is normal. But there are little things that can be done safely that would give those on the front lines a halfhour or an hour’s rest. For them, an hour is crucial. As long as I’m strong, I’ll keep going. I’m here and I’m staying here.
“If people saw what I see in the hospitals, there wouldn’t be a queue in front of the supermarkets anymore.
“They would think two, three or four times before leaving home, even to go running.
“What I see are people of all ages, on respirators, on oxygen; doctors and nurses on 20 or 22-hour shifts, not sleeping one minute of the day and just trying to get some rest the next day.
“I wish I could say that the situation here has reached its limit. But I’m afraid I have to say that’s not the case.”
Mbanda – whose Congolese father is a surgeon in Milan – felt unable to stand idly by as Italy’s health care system was overwhelmed by the virus.
Parma, where Mbanda plays his club rugby for Zebre, is one of the worst-hit areas.
“When everything was cancelled in rugby, I wondered how I could help, even without medical experwith them,” he said. “You must not hide because you are afraid.
“I grew up poor so I know what they feel.”
Pacquiao was in talks to return to the ring in July and has not fought since beating Keith Thurman to win the WBA super welterweight title last July.
He says his comeback is on hold while coronavirus ravages the world.
“This is the first thing we need to pay attention to,” he said.
Pacquiao claims the Filipino authorities must feed the people living on the streets or they may be reduced to looting.
He added: “That’s chaos and it’s what may happen.” tise,” said the 27-year-old, who was part of Italy’s World Cup squad and played against England when they last visited Rome in 2018.
“I found the Yellow Cross, which had a transport service for medicine and food for the elderly.
“I found myself transferring positive patients from one local hospital to another. I help with the stretcher or if there are patients to be carried from a wheelchair. I also hold the oxygen.”
Witnessing the suffering, even of the survivors, has been a sobering, traumatic experience.
“Even if they can’t speak, they communicate with the eyes and they tell you things you can’t imagine,” said Mbanda, speaking to AFP.
“They hear the alarms, the doctors and nurses running from one ward to the next.
“The first person I collected from the hospital told me that he had been there for three hours when the neighbour in the next bed died.
“And during the night, two other women died in his room. He had never seen anyone die.”