Quarantine in RH Hotel – Day 1

I woke up in unfamiliar room after ten hours of sleep, found my roommate sleeping next to me, on the edge of the bed while I slept on the opposite side (for one metre social distancing since it is a double bed). Then I realized that I am back in Sarawak quarantined in RH Hotel, not in my single rented room in KL. I took my smartphone to check for the time and find it is just 5 o’clock in the morning. No wonder my roommate is still sleeping safe and sound.

            I get myself dressed up in the bathroom while trying to make the least noise. I boil the bottled mineral water provided as usual then do some stretching exercise and simple yoga steps. I try to keep the noise down to prevent waking my roommate up. By the way, this hotel provided lots of bottled water, soaps, shampoo. About 5.30 AM, I noticed some sound of cart wheel rolling upside. Peeping through the door viewer, I found our breakfast delivered, placed on the chair outside the door without a trace of the delivery person. Whoever he or she is, the person must be hardworking and responsible to deliver the meals so early in the morning. Thank you for your hard work! Our breakfast consisted of a cup of Nescafe instant coffee, a large serve of fried rice and two fried popiah. The meals were still warm when I took them in.

            Around 8 AM, my roommate woke up. We completed the assigned daily task during quarantine to report our location on 8 AM and 8 PM. We scan the QR code on the wristband given yesterday and log in to the digital tracking microweb with IC number and password on the wristband to report our current location with GPS. We have to click on “Log location” and then “Find location “. The longitude and latitude will appear in the blank box automatically. Then we click on “Save location “. The dashboard will then show our current logged location. Task accomplished. I have set up alarm for the task.

Suddenly, there was a knocking in our door. We were visited by a guy with full protective gear that insists that we immediately go to level three with IC. After putting face masks on, we hurry to level three with stairs since the lift is crowded (only four persons allowed to get on the lift at once due to social distancing). There we find lots of other university students waiting to be tested for Covid-19. Health authorities with full protective gear are busy taking attendance and organizing the students to be tested. We waited for a while until our names were called to be tested. The person testing me has carried out a series of disinfecting procedures quickly before explaining the test to me. They are trying to comfort us and are explaining that the following steps may cause discomfort. We were asked to check our name and IC number on the test tube. The swab test was done at both nose and throat. A long cotton bud like tool was used to penetrate deep into the throat and nostril to obtain sample. The test done at throat is done with me saying “Aaaaaaaaa” until the person in charge say “Okay”. It was choking for me so I coughed. The test done at nose is a little uneasy and gave a sneezing sensation. Tears spilled out from my eyes itself. Overall, I felt no pain but can still feel something in my nose after a while.

Then, we went back to our room and immediately had a thorough clean-up of ourselves, including washing the clothes worn before taking the lunch placed outside of the room. Now, all we can do is wait. We will be waiting for the test result that will decide if we can go home and when.