Recently, actor Mithila Palkar took to social media to share that she had tested positive for Coronavirus. She wrote: “I have started my birthday week on a Covid positive note. Bummer, I know!”

Though asymptomatic, she decided to go for an RT-PCR as she had been exposed to a Covid-infected person. “I tested myself as a precautionary measure since I visit my grandparents very often. Also, work is the biggest risk for us because, while everyone gets to wear a mask, actors are still exposed,” she says. 

Palkar shares that she had already anticipated her test results: “I had a strong gut feeling that I would test positive, and the amount of time it took to send the report fed into that feeling. But I still gave them (testing lab) the benefit of the doubt that they were overburdened.”

What makes the Little Things actor upset is that she is spending her birthday, today, in isolation. “Once it was confirmed that I had tested Covid-19 positive, I immediately counted the number of days until my birthday and I went, ‘Oh no’,” she rues. But the 29-year-old quickly adds, “My 12-day isolation will end tomorrow. I was disappointed, but if you know you’ve caught the virus, why go around and spread it? I’m following every protocol because I’m not irresponsible and I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

However, Palkar worries about her grandparents. “It hasn’t stopped being a matter of concern for me ever since the onset of the pandemic. If I’m shooting outside the city, I don’t come back and go to see them immediately, and when I go to see them after a few days, I always have my mask on. Their immunity is already low,” she concludes.