Never underestimate Covid-19 virus, warns recovered journalist

SIN Chew Daily photojournalist Su Zhang Guo has made a full recovery following an eight-day battle with the Covid-19 infection in the intensive care unit, the daily reported.

Recounting the experience on his Facebook page, Su wrote that he has a “newfound respect” for the virus and the effects it can have on the body.

Having a high fever on April 21, Su was initially relieved when he tested negative for the virus.

However, his symptoms progressively worsened and he was admitted to hospital on April 30 with the help of family members.

After undergoing another round of tests, Su was rushed to the ICU and intubated.

“I was at stage five, required anaesthetics and had to rely on a ventilator to breathe. It was my first time experiencing what it felt to be intubated,” he said.

According to the Health Ministry, stage five means a Covid-19 patient has to rely on a ventilator to keep breathing.

Su was unconscious for four days before gradually regaining his senses on day five.

However, the road to recovery was painful and lonely, he noted.

“What pains me most was that when doctors and nurses left, accompanying me was the medical equipment, a small window and a mouldy ceiling,” he said.

Su was finally allowed to leave the hospital on May 12.

Uncertain how he had contracted the virus, he urged others not to underestimate the virus and remain constantly alert.

“I hope my experience can help make everyone more alert.

“Don’t think that it’s not dangerous to come in contact with people you know or go have coffee with someone just because they look healthy. You may end up paying a price,” he wrote.

> The daily also reported that a grim but poignant message from bereavement group Nirvana Asia saying “We don’t want your business” has once again gone viral.

In a voice recording shared on social media, Nirvana Asia Group founder Tan Sri Kong Hon Kong could be heard urging the public to stay at home to slow down the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, adding that he would rather they be safe than he having to end up organising their funeral.

In an exclusive interview with the daily later, Kong said that he saw an increase in customers whose family members had died from Covid-19.

“Those in our industry are able to see the devastating effects of the pandemic more clearly,” he said.

“Many people don’t take it seriously as it has not happened to them or those close to them.”

He said that one of his agents in his 40s died of Covid-19 despite only suffering from mild symptoms.

He urged the public to remain alert and stay at home or risk paying the ultimate price.

In March 2020, Nirvana Asia’s advert which read “Stay at home or stay at Nirvana” (referring to its graves and columbarium) had gone viral due to its stark message.

Kong said that it was a “borderline controversial post” but the intention was to remind the people “as straightforward as possible so that people would not ignore the seriousness of the issue”.

> A six-year-old child from Xi’an, China, ended up in an emergency room after being impaled by a bamboo skewer.

He fell while holding a skewered sausage and the bamboo impaled his throat, China Press reported.

The incident happened on May 7 when the boy was enjoying dinner with family members.

Doctors managed to remove the bamboo skewer and the boy is expected to make a full recovery.

The surgeon said hospitals in China received many of such cases every day stemming from accidents involving chopsticks or even toothpicks and urged parents to pay special care when children were given such sharp items.