“I’ve never felt pain like this, this virus is not a joke”

Jonathas de Jesus fulfills the first week of positive for Covid-19. The striker was the first Brazilian athlete infected by the virus, although thousands of kilometers away. The player is confined to his residence in Los Arenales del Sol, a coastal hamlet of Elche, from where he enjoys views of the Mediterranean and the Alicante island of Tabarca. And where one of the most complicated moments of his sports career is also happening.

The battering ram has spent a hard week, away from his wife and his two daughters, who have stayed in his country and with whom he connects every day through the network or telephone. Last Thursday, on the occasion of Father's Day, he published in Instagran some videos and images enjoying beautiful moments with his two girls, “My heart hurts because you cannot be with my loves, with my two little princesses,” he said.

Jonathas has broken his silence for the Brazilian media Globo, to whom he has explained how the symptoms began and how the advance of the COVID-19 virus was felt throughout his body: “I started to feel fever, a very bad feeling, and, from done, i thought it was just a migraine. Since my head hurt a lot, my body hurt too. But when I got up in the morning (Friday, March 13), I went to talk to the doctor (Dr. César Quesada) and he told me to get tested quickly, because they were all symptoms of the virus. Then test positive. “

The Elche player arrived at the Pacheta squad in the winter market in January, after several months without a team. He returned from Vallecas with a slight hamstring muscle injury, but the discomfort he felt throughout his body had nothing to do with it: “As it was, I couldn't train. Because my body was weak, especially during the first three days, I suffered a lot. I didn't even have the strength to move. When I went to shower, I almost passed out in the bathroom. It was a very strong pain, I had never felt it. This virus is not a joke. “

Now he is starting to feel better, although he is still halfway through the 15-day quarantine that affects, by extension, the entire Elche CF squad. He still has a way to overcome this disease, although he hopes to do it with strength and with the hope of returning to the competition, if LaLiga and the health authorities decide to raise the curtain again this season: “I am better. I have returned to exercise, but I am an athlete and I had a lot of pain, imagine how an older person will feel. So we have to think a lot about Brazil. Because some people are not yet aware of the severity of this virus. “

This Sunday, Jonathas has published images of the physical work and the circuits, some with the ball, that he is doing on the private terrace of his house. Time continues to pass and the pandemic continues to advance. As society in general and the world of sport in particular demands: “You have to stay at home.”