LONDON – At his darkest moment with the coronavirus, Dr. Poorna Gunasekera glimpsed three rays of light. Following a severe deterioration in his COVID-19 symptoms, Gunasekera was rushed to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, southwest England, in the early hours of March 30, and three former students came to treat him.
Upon entering the “red zone,” which is one step below the intensive care unit, the 57-year-old associate professor of biomedical sciences at the city's university was put into isolation. “It was wonderful that during that time, two of my former students, who are doctors, and another, who is a nurse, actually came and they identified themselves,” he told The Associated Press following his discharge from the hospital on April 9.