KANNUR: “I’m joining duty in Covid ward, Our marriage will have to be postponed…” This was what Kannur district hospital nurse Soumya told her would-be Reji over phone on March 23. “Go ahead with courage, I am ready to wait,” was the reply.

It was on Friday that she got leave after two weeks’ duty but the next two weeks will be her quarantine period. She will resume duty on April 20. The new date of marriage will be decided after present Covid crisis is over.

The marriage of Kottayam native Soumya and Thrikkaripoor native Reji Narain was fixed on April 8.

Following the Corona out break and lockdown, it was decided to conduct the ceremony as a low-profile function on April 26. It was then that she was appointed in the Covid ward.

Though the hospital was ready to give her leave, she didn’t opt for it.

“As days went by, each patient in the isolation ward began to be like my relative and the whole ward was like a big family house. For the past one and a half month I’m here and have not gone home,” Soumya said.

Soumya and 24 other nurses are under quarantine in a Rainbow suite near the hospital. There are also a handful of books to read. On April 20 she and others will resume duty.