S’wakian grandad survives Covid-19, 62-day quarantine

KUCHING: Thoughts of hopelessness and despair raced through the mind of Othman Mustapha, 66, after he contracted the Covid-19 from visiting a relative who had died from the novel coronavirus here.

A day after the father of five and grandfather of 15 grandchildren was quarantined at the Public Health College in Kota Sentosa on March 27, his swab test returned positive for the virus.

He was then admitted to the isolation ward at the Sarawak General Hospital, where he stayed until April 4.

After the retiree had recovered from the symptoms and was discharged from the hospital, he was quarantined yet again and this time at the Youth and Sports Complex ( KBS) here for almost a month, where he was tested repeatedly until he was finally allowed to go home on May 28.

Othman, who was an engineer in the airline industry, revealed that it all started a week after he visited a relative who died on March 18, whom he would later find out had succumbed to Covid-19.

Within that particular week, he said he was lethargic and dizzy, and felt chills without fever and sometimes he would shiver. He then began losing his appetite, his sense of smell and taste, and had conjunctivitis.

The following week, he started to experience shortness of breath.

“At first I was in denial. I was speechless when I got the news that I was positive for Covid19. I felt like my life was falling apart because we know that it is a deadly virus; the disease can be fatal.

“And then I thought ‘ that’s it’. Once admitted to the ward, I was unsure when I would be back to see my family again. They are my real concern. I was so worried and I was not sure at that time what would come next and what I should do.”

Asked to elaborate on how he felt physically, Othman said: “I felt sick, strangely exhausted, (my) body aches and I started feeling nauseous and then I came down with a fever.

“From my experience, the muscle aches were the worst, but the shortness of breath and exhaustion were also intense.”

He said a doctor started prescribing him medication a day after he was admitted into the ward, which had caused him nausea and stomach upset.

“Knowing that there’s no vaccine yet, most of the patients were depending on medication prescribed by the doctor and we were also advised to take high doses of Vitamin C.”

In terms of his mental wellbeing during the quarantine period, he said he felt depressed and being hopeless about his recovery – he even questioned whether he would survive the ordeal.

“After six days in the isolation ward, (at first) I felt so relieved

At first I was in denial. I was speechless when I got the news that I was positive for Covid-19. I felt like my life was falling apart because we know that it is a deadly virus; the disease can be fatal.

Othman Mustapha