She may have been the first person to develop the new corona virus: Seafood seller Wei Guixian.
“I get the flu every winter, so I thought it was it,” recalls the woman who worked at the Huanan market in Wuhan on December 10 when the first symptoms appeared. “I felt a little tired, but not more than in previous years,” says Wei.
Neither injection nor pills helped
A day later, she went to a small local clinic for treatment. There she received an injection, was released, and then went back to work. Nobody knew that the woman who was going to fight for her life in a hospital bed shortly afterwards was probably contagious and spreading the coronavirus at this point.
Even after a few days, Wei was still sick: “I went to another hospital to get a second opinion. The doctors had no idea what I had. They gave me a few pills, but they didn’t help.”
“I had no strength left”
Finally, on December 16, the trader decided to visit Wuhan Union Hospital, one of the largest in the city. “At the time, I felt a lot worse, I was very uncomfortable. I was out of strength and energy.”
At the hospital, she was told that other people from the same market had reported symptoms that were similar. A doctor described the disease to her as “merciless”.
Quarantined in hospital
Wei was then quarantined in the hospital. After recovering from the virus, she was able to leave the hospital in January.
According to the Wuhan Health Commission, Wei is at least one of the first 27 people directly connected to the Huanan market who tested positive for the virus.
