Thread by @MetroUK

No matter which country we live in, most of us have experienced loss, drastic change & an impact on our mental wellbeing 🌍

Here, @Sarah1ngram talks to 11 people from across the globe about what life during the pandemic has been like for them.

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🇲🇽Mexico: ‘The pandemic is very much still here’

Deaths: 306,920*

Infections: 4,985,689

Vaccination rate: 65% of the population

Jason Platt, 52, a therapist from Mexico City lost his father David to Covid last year. The last time he saw him, it was through a hospital window.

'The pandemic has muted Mexico.'

'Its glorious technicolour vibrancy has shifted to a muted grey.'

'Everyone still wears masks and looks at you weirdly if you don’t.'

'The pandemic is very much still here. It does not feel clear when it will end.’

🇮🇳 India: ‘People would talk about drinking cow urine as a cure for Covid’

Deaths: 497,975

Infections: 41,630,885

Vaccination rate: 61.2% of the population

Asmita Sarkar & her new husband Vivek were treated like pariahs by their neighbours when they had to quarantine in 2020.

'The rate of infection is still quite high in India. I am hopeful that more and more people will get vaccinated here and life will return to almost normal.'

'There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.’

🇳🇿New Zealand: ‘Repeat border closures and lockdowns have been emotionally exhausting’

Deaths: 53

Infections: 16,817

Vaccination rate: 95% of the population

Christina Hyde, a hotel owner, has seen Covid kill international tourism in her part of the world.

'Lockdowns on Waiheke Island are a little surreal.'

'We’ve had beautiful weather for most of them, and at a time when the area would normally be humming with tourists, sometimes you can be the only person on a beautiful long white sandy beach.'

'However, these repeat border closures and lockdowns have been emotionally exhausting.'

'We build up hope that borders may open and we can return to welcoming guests, but then when lockdowns are extended those hopes come crashing down.'

🇪🇹 Ethiopia: ‘I have seen some girls getting married young as their parents thought school would never open again’

Deaths: 7,346

Infections: 466,000

Vaccination rate: 1.4% fully vaccinated**

Mahlet Gulilat, 15, is from West Haraghe.

She is the leader of a Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) which was set up with support from CARE International, to train adolescent girls on sexual reproductive health, business skills and how to save.

'Since the start of Covid-19, our income has significantly reduced as the prices have fallen, the market runs less regularly, people are travelling less and their purchasing capacity has reduced.'

'People also believe that if they eat vegetables corona will spread.'

🇮🇹 Italy: ‘Schools are messed up because so many kids are at home with Covid’

Deaths: 146,925

Infections: 11,116,422

Vaccination rate: 106.8% of the population

Marina Nasi, a writer and English teacher from Bologna says Italy is being divided by conspiracy theorists.

'It is unsettling. You can feel a certain tension – an aggressive and judgement attitude both from and towards anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists.'

'Having a healthy dialogue seems to be very difficult.'

🇰🇪Kenya: ‘I asked my wife not to tell our children that I had contracted Covid’

Deaths: 5,587

Infections: 321,552

Vaccination rate: 11.8% of the population

Galgalo Bocha, 40, from Mombasa, spent 35 days in hospital shortly after the pandemic hit.

Galgalo was haunted after seeing young men die alongside him in the wards.

'On one ward, I was with men in their late 30s or early 40s.'

'One was gasping for air while the other one kept turning his head right and left. They both died.'

'I had nightmares of them fighting for their lives.'

'I remember one afternoon, being woken by cries from the families of the deceased. Through the window I saw an elderly woman wailing.'

'I made a full recovery and am fine now.'

🇺🇸 USA: ‘The pandemic brought my mental health conditions to the surface‘
Deaths: 893,682

Infections: 75,292,043

Vaccination rate: 82.2% of the population

Jason Wood experienced upsetting mental health struggles early on during the pandemic.

But time away from society has also given him space to recover.

'In July 2020 my husband voiced his concerns about me and a few days later I spoke with my doctor, who diagnosed me with an unspecified eating disorder, anxiety, and OCD.'

'While these conditions had haunted me for years, it was the pandemic that brought them to the surface.'

'In a way, the pandemic has given me a bubble to recover in.'

'While still working from home, I am able to focus on my recovery.'

🇫🇰Falkland Islands: ‘I felt guilty we weren’t suffering while elsewhere it was hell’

Deaths: None

Infections: 84

Vaccination: No data

Roxy King-Clark has enjoyed the deserted beaches of the Falklands, making most of the lockdowns with her husband and two young sons.

'Fortunately we haven’t had any Covid deaths.'

'The pandemic here has been surreal because life has been relatively normal.'

'I felt a guilt that we weren’t suffering while elsewhere in the world it was hell.'

🇮🇩 Indonesia: ‘I had to live off my savings‘

Deaths: 144,373

Infections: 4,387,286

Vaccination rate: 57.8% of the population

Former dive instructor Jenny Karmy, 40, has seen the island of Bali hit hard as Covid brought international tourism to a standstill.

'About 80% of jobs in Bali come from tourism, so the island has been hit really hard.'

'Lots of businesses have closed, restaurants and shops are shuttered and people are struggling to keep themselves afloat.'

'It’s really sad, and Bali is still suffering.'

🇬🇧UK: ‘Long Covid has left me so angry – at the medical profession, my situation and the pandemic’

Deaths: 156,875

Infections: 17,428,345

Vaccination rate: 103% of the population

Dr Kerry Smith, 49, contracted the infection from her GP practice in the South Coast of England.

She now has long Covid, which has left her disabled and unable to work.

'Even doing housework or cooking a meal is too difficult right now.'

'Some days I feel so angry – at the medical profession, my situation, the pandemic.'

🇯🇵 Japan: ‘On our first date we had to wear masks’

Deaths: 18,967

Infections: 2,921,177

Vaccination rate: 81.6% of the population

Ayaka Akimoto Wade, 24, now in Zengyo, Fujisawa, left her boyfriend and her Tokyo home in the early days of the pandemic.

She since found love at first sight and was married within a month.

'Life in Japan is now very different to what it was. Many of our cultural events have been cancelled.'

'Everyone is still wearing masks, but I feel like the pandemic is over.’

*At time of writing.

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