Auxiliary police officer 'was in disbelief' after positive test
He turned 38 when he was in a hospital isolation ward, away from his wife and two children.
But the auxiliary police officer from Certis, identified on Feb 10 as Case 44 in the coronavirus outbreak, had a celebration for his birthday on Feb 14.
Nurses surprised him with a cake, leaving him "super touched", he said in a media interview yesterday.
Case 44, who declined to be named, added: "My wife called me. The kids were on the line and sang 'Happy Birthday'. The emotion (was) crazy."
His wife is a housewife. They have a son, seven, and a daughter, five. He volunteered to be a quarantine order agent when Certis started its Covid-19 operations at the tail end of January.
He was deployed at the Chingay parade on Jan 31 and Feb 1, and had served quarantine orders to several people, including a mother and daughter from Wuhan, China, who later tested positive for Covid-19.
He saw a general practitioner on Feb 2 for what he thought was tonsillitis with fever. But his fever did not subside even after three or four days on antibiotics.
He then went to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, where he tested positive for Covid-19 on Feb 9.
Case 44, who spent 12 days in hospital, said: "I was in disbelief..." When he called his wife, she had already got the news from doctors and was crying.
"I was trying to remain calm but it was difficult. I was trying to console (her) while putting on a brave front," he said.
He had bouts of fever, diarrhoea, and a loss of appetite and the nasal swabs pained him to tears. But his condition improved from the sixth day, and he was discharged on Feb 18.
He had the support of relatives and his commanding officer helped buy groceries for his quarantined family.
Case 44 is the first beneficiary of The Courage Fund, receiving $3,000. The fund supports front-line workers who contract the virus in the line of duty, dependants of infected persons, and low-income households affected by Covid-19.
Case 44, who said he would volunteer to be a quarantine order agent again, added: "To those who are infected by Covid-19, believe you are not alone and remain strong."
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