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Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent
WHEN you are quarantined for five days and are waiting for Covid-19 results of a friend who was in contact with a person who tested positive, you start feeling the symptoms of the virus, a condition known as hypochondria.

This is what Thulani (not his real name) who is based in Harare felt when he was told that he could be at risk after being informed that his friend had been in close contact with Zororo Makamba who was exposed to the virus.

Thulani said one of his friends (name supplied) had met Makamba at a nightclub in Harare on March 14, two weeks before his death where they hung out and shook hands. Thulani, also a friend of Makamba, then met his friend on the same night and they hung out as usual.

A week later, Zororo was confirmed as the second person to have tested positive for Covid-19 and this started a chain of events that took Thulani through bouts of anxiety and hypochondria.

“The previous day when they told me that Zororo was patient two, I felt like I had caught it (Covid-19). I was coughing and automatically thought I had it.

“I was really stressed. I then phoned the Harare City Council and they advised me to stay put at home as they’d come to see me. Unfortunately, they didn’t come, but they kept calling and asking if I was displaying any symptoms. I told them I had a cough and they suggested that I monitor it over a day or two,” said Thulani.

When his friend was subsequently taken to Wilkins Hospital to get tested, the waiting began and the anxiety went up a notch as at this point, Makamba had been pronounced dead.

“I didn’t visit Wilkins, but for someone who didn’t get tested, it was hard. Isolating yourself for five days and sitting in a room waiting for someone else’s results to conclude that you’re negative was something else,” said Thulani.

During this time, as Thulani was confined to the four walls of his rented house, the hypochondria of a virus that has killed over 50 000 people worldwide kicked in.

The only source of information was from his friend and also news sites online and television.

“I think the symptoms that I started feeling were all psychological.

“The hypochondria in you kicks in when you hear the figures of people dying from the disease on a daily basis.”

Thulani said waiting for his friend’s results was definitely the hardest time of his life.

“During those days, I was panicking, paranoid and losing my mind. If I touched anything, I would rush to the bathroom to look for bleach and try to decontaminate my hands.

“I couldn’t even tell my landlord that I was in self-quarantine as I wanted to make sure that everything was fine at the end. I wasn’t getting out of the house and was there for five days. It wasn’t easy. It messed me up big time.”

For the virus that causes Covid-19, researchers have found that the typical incubation period is about five days. About 97 percent of the people who get infected and develop symptoms will do so within 11 to 12 days.

Fortunately for Thulani, his friend tested negative after five days of waiting and it is only then that he breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“After I heard the results, it was a relief as I was now able to practice social distancing instead of self-isolation. I then decided after this experience to travel  home to be with family,” he said.

Thulani said after his experience he was not taking life for granted.