The COVID-19 pandemic caused a huge problem. It affected every person’s life around the globe. The greatly affected are persons who are directly involved in the pandemic, the frontline workers, and the people who contracted the disease. It caused a huge drag on the people not just physically but emotionally and mentally. There are already several studies that showed the experiences of people from the effect of COVID-19 but most of the respondents were health care workers. This study will explore the lived experiences of survivors of COVID-19. The study used a descriptive qualitative research design to explore the lived experiences of COVID-19 survivors. A purposive sampling design was used to gather 15 respondents and a semi-structured mobile phone interview was used to collect data. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data and 6 themes (and 21 subthemes) were produced. These are meaning of life (goal-oriented, religiosity, routine), health behaviour (heedless, conscientious, carefree, negligent), challenges and realizations (guilt and regret, agony and sorrow, fear and anger, positivity and acceptance), sources of strength and coping ways/strategies (beloved individuals, diversion, devotion), new health perspective (continuing, improved), and life changes and valuable lessons (family, life, health, religious, purpose). The results and the story narratives explored and extracted from each survivor will help the people understand the life of the survivors who lived through being infected by COVID-19 and quarantined or admitted. Also, it may help educate the people on the importance of good health and be compassionate to the people affected by this COVID-19 pandemic.

Keyword: Lived experiences of COVID-19 survivors COVID-19 survivors quarantined and admitted in Zamboanga City