When white-robed Hage Rinya, 21, appeared on Facebook and web channels on Thursday, thousands listened to her in speechless wonder as though an angel had graced the virtual world by her presence.

Soft-spoken Rinya, who looks every inch a Florence Nightingale, is a nursing officer with Tezu Zonal Hospital in Arunachal Pradesh. She shared her experience with the first Covid-19 positive patient in Arunachal Pradesh.

“Hello everyone! My name is Hage Rinya, a nursing officer at Tezu Zonal Hospital and I am sharing my experience with the first Covid-19 positive patient in our state. On April 2, when the patient was admitted, all were shocked. For us and our medical department, it was a challenging moment. But our hospital was fully equipped to accept the challenge. There was an observation ward, an isolation ward and the doctors, nurses and attendants were ready for any situation.

“There were four groups, I was in the second group. When the patient came, I was called. I received him. Yet there was a lurking fear as we had to come to him, a Covid-19 positive patient, every day. There was an underlying tension, but we used to encourage one another to keep our spirits high and were determined to perform our duty at any cost.”

Tezu is the headquarters of Lohit district in eastern Arunachal Pradesh. It is 102km from here and 374km from Itanagar. The picturesque place is famous for its rivers and hills.

Rinya said: “It was not easy to be on duty wearing PPE (personal protective equipment) kits for six hours regularly. From the day the patient was admitted, we were kept at a quarantine centre — away from our families — from where we went to the hospital. We all knew that we were risking our lives, but it was necessary to save a life. Today our state is free of coronavirus and no new case has been detected so far. But there should be no complacency and we cannot be careless.

“Medical staff and the police are working day and night. Till the lockdown is lifted, you all stay at home; your cooperation is a must for us. If you have to go out for an urgent work, wear face masks and gloves. Carry a pocket sanitiser, maintain social-distancing norms strictly and obey the guidelines of the government. Then only we can be saved from novel coronavirus. I thank our chief minister Pema Khandu, deputy chief minister Chowna Mein, our legislators, parliamentarians, Samaritans, district administrations, medical departments and all my colleagues. Jai Hind.”

The man who tested positive for coronavirus after swab tests on April 1 and April 7 was kept in Tezu hospital in an isolation room. His third and fourth tests showed negative results and he was released on April 16.

The 31-year-old migrant who lives in nearby Medo village had attended a congregation in Delhi on March 15 and returned on March 18.

Nearly 47,000 people have seen Rinya on social media and 500 people have shared her story with hundreds of comments: “Salute”, “A big salute” and “Corona warrior”.