Deaths from the novel coronavirus infection have gone past 400 in China, and more than 20,000 people across the world are infected. But the deadly sweep of the virus is also creating stories. And they are all are riveting -- some heart-warming while the others are potentially disturbing. Among the videos from China that the world was glued onto in the past fortnight were footages of people dropping dead on the streets and dead bodies lying unattended.
The latest video to have made a wave on the Internet is that of two elderly people holding each other's hands in a hospital care unit. The man and woman, both in their eighties and probably beyond, are presumed to be a couple but obviously there's no one who has vouched for it. However, it doesn't matter, really.
A Twitter user posted the video with the caption: "What does a couple mean? Two elderly patients of #coronavirus #CoronarivusOutbreak in their 80s said goodbye in ICU, this could be the last time to meet and greet." The IANS news agency said the video is of patients in China suffering from coronavirus.
The video shows the elderly man and woman lying on the hospital bed, both appearing quite weak, the woman more so. The man holds the woman's hand and whispers to her.
Those who watched the emotional short clip surmised it was a couple and they were bidding goodbye to each other. "Heartbreaking! She is in angonal breathing and he is coming to terms she isn't likely going to survive. No matter what language is spoken the tone and the expressions are the same when one questioning and perhaps coming to realize their love may not live," one person reacted on Twitter.
Other commenters said the footage was 'heartbreaking' and a testament to true love. Yet others wished the elderly people get better soon. There were also others who expressed anguish over having to watch the video. "I didn't need to see this," one user opined, in a comment that underpins the need to respect the privacy of people.
But those who replied highlighted the cathartic effect of such human love-stories. "Actually we have to see this because is a big call to be more human and less mundane and I'm saying this to myself as well," one user replied.
Death toll surges past 400
On Monday (Feb. 3), China reported 3,235 new cases and 64 deaths, caused by the coronavirus infection, according to the country's National Health Commission. As of Tuesday morning, the total number of cases reached 20,438 and while fatalities touched 425 in mainland China.
