Photographer Pratha Narang and her husband Sushant Naik, who works with Amazon Prime, had a nasty end of year surprise waiting for them. On December 28, their six-month-old daughter Tara developed a fever that shot to 103.5. Her paediatric doctor suggested she take paracetamol. The fever didn’t go, and was now accompanied by a nasty rash. Tara was prescribed Ibugesic, a combination of Ibuprofen and paracetamol. The fever climbed down only to shoot up in four hours. “It was the beginning of a nightmare,” says Narang, who was soon at Worli’s SRCC Children’s Hospital, one of the few in Mumbai admitting kids with COVID-19. “The RT-PCR test hadn’t been done yet, so we admitted her to the suspect ward. We took her home in a few hours, and that was a big mistake.” At home, Tara took a nap at 10.30 am and didn’t wake up till four in the evening. “She was struggling to open her eyes. She had high fever and her oxygen levels 
had dropped. We went back to the hospital, and were there for five days. Her test came positive, and by this time, I too had tested positive for COVID-19, as had my husband and mother.” 

That day, mother and daughter were the only occupants at the ICU, but by the time they left, there were 13 other children. “I was there when the doctor was telling the head nurse that he didn’t care how it would happen, but he needed an additional ICU set up right away. I was told to assume Tara had contracted the Omicron variant, considering how it was spreading swiftly. We are lucky we are back and healthy home.” Narang remembers an eight-month-old who was badly off, and she says she hopes she made it out. Another 10-year-old was having trouble breathing and each time she inhaled, she made a whistling sound. Narang has decided not to step out because the paediatrician has warned that the infection could return.