 The national COVID-19 vaccination campaign continued Thursday, 11th March, with hundreds of St. Lucians visiting the Entrypo Human Resource Center, Mikko Multipurpose Center and the Darren-Sami Cricket Stadium for inoculation. At Wednesday 10th March, 12,624 St. Lucians had received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Health teams are continuing home visits to vaccinate the elderly and individuals who are unable to get to vaccination sites. Also on Wednesday, the ministry reported a reduction in active COVID-19 cases. The numbers stood at 219, the lowest numbers since cases spiralled after the holiday season. Vaccination continues Friday 12th March at the Cannery's Wellness Center, Viewport Independence Square, VG Sports Complex, Barbono Multipurpose Center and Souffre Hospital Grounds. Meantime in a sobering first-person account of the COVID-19 illness, one survivor sings the praises of healthcare workers at the respiratory hospital for not only risking their lives but diligently carrying out their duty to save lives. Details in this report. The Ireland's Respiratory Hospital has received an encouraging report from a recovered COVID-19 patient after a week-long stay at the facility. In early February, businessman Fadi Leun tested positive for the virus. While awaiting confirmation, his health was deteriorating and he had to be admitted to the hospital. In an interview on NTN, Leun confessed that he initially had misgivings about the care he would receive. Stories I heard about VH and the amount of circulated videos about the poor service and the poor quality of the service, more or less, or the environment or the establishment. I was really afraid. But the first day, honest to God, the first day I entered this center, I was like, wow, this is a masterpiece. Because you're in a room by yourself, nonetheless, every two hours, there's something checking on you. Your food comes on time as well. You have your breakfast, you have your full protein, your tea, whatever it is. Your lunch, your dinner on time, your medication. I was also on drips. I don't know what they call it, what they call the science word to eat in the drips. And they make it, you see, because we have a glass partition, so they're always observing you more or less like what they're passing by. So soon they realize what they call it, the drips going down or about to go down. A new one comes in right away until you get to a point like you don't eat it anymore. Because remember, I lost my taste, I lost my smell, and I lost appetite as well, so I wasn't eating, per se. So the only nutrition that comes in through the drip, yes, indeed. Leon says he never felt overlooked as the medical staff constantly checked his status. I mean, the service is amazing, the nurses are amazing. As I said in a previous talk show, I don't call them nurses and doctors, I call them honeybees because they're around the clock working. The local nurses, and the foreigner, or the Cuban nurses more or less if you want to call them. And the doctors are amazing, all of them, all of them. I couldn't actually recognize them because of the gaze they have, right, but they're just on point. They come, they ask you, hey, you know, how's your breathing, anything troubling you, anything hurting you, anything, so on, so on, so. So it's more like every two hours, you know, they're checking on me. Is that only checking on me as well? And they check on everybody because the room's like, you know, numbered. Like number one, number two, number three, whatever it is. So they go on in sequence. So you never felt neglected? No, no, no, no, no, not at all, not at all, not at all. As a matter of fact, you know, anytime like, you know, just like, you know, about to fall asleep, they will just come in to make sure like, you know, you have your blood pressure and under control and stuff. I was always getting like, you know, some medication on a regular basis, you know. Leon recovered within a week at the hospital after the close encounter with death. Leon and hundreds of others in St. Lucia who contracted COVID-19 have been nursed back to health at the facility. Leon says he would not wish the viral illness on his worst enemy and encourages the public to consider taking the vaccine. To, to, to get my vaccine, actually, you know, prior to my, to my, to my, to my illness, but because of my immune system, you know, being jeopardized, you know, and you could say like, you know, right now my immune system under construction, right? The doctor advised me that I can't take it right now, right away, because I need a little period of time for my immune system to recover. Nonetheless, have not been sick. I'll be taking it right away. I'll be one of the first to take it right away. So I advise everybody, everybody just to take it. There's nothing fear about it. Don't be scared to take it because at the end of the day, you know, my ideas, you know, COVID-19 is not a joke. Believe in me, it is not a joke. These virus, you know, have one initiative and one mission is to kill you. For the Government Information Service, I am Jesse Leong's reporting.