Joape Anare had often taken the dangers of COVID-19 lightly and admitted that he was one of those people who be­lieved the virus was a hoax.

That was until he contracted the virus and came close to dying a week ago.

The 31-year-old Beqa native con­tracted the virus from his flatmate. His flatmate tested positive and, as a primary contact, he was told to isolate.

“It was not until Day Five of iso­lation that I developed symptoms. I had a high fever and my body ached. Then I lost my sense of taste,” Mr Anare said.

“Three nights straight, I couldn’t stand as my body was weak, I didn’t feel like eating, I lost my sense of smell and taste. To this point, I thought to myself that this was go­ing to be the end of me.”

Mr Anare repeatedly called the toll free numbers for help, but there were no responses. He said at that point he realised that the health services were overwhelmed.

He also realised that there were doctors staying at the Suva Motor Inn, his place of employment. And he called one of them.

“Last Sunday, Esther Karanavatu called to check up on me to see how I was doing and I explained to her about my situation,” he said.

Ms Karanavatu called for medi­cal personnel to come and test Mr Anare for COVID-19. This was how they confirmed that Mr Anare was positive for COVID-19 as a result of his first swab.

The results of his second swab are pending.

He had already gotten his first jab.

Mr Anare said it may have been the medicine or perhaps his im­mune system was strong enough to bounce back.

He said he has now come to re­alise that people who do not take COVID-19 seriously needed to start doing so. He said he was telling his story so people could realise how real the dangers are. As Mr Anare recovers slowly, he hoped that more Fijians would get vaccinated.