Malaysian doctor, wife and 5 children test positive for COVID-19

KUALA LUMPUR:  A family of seven has tested positive for COVID-19 in Malaysia, but the doctor, his wife and five children are staying cheerful. 

The siblings are quarantined at the Teluk Intan Hospital and since Friday (Mar 27), a TikTok video by one of them, 17-year-old Erika Syamim Samsu Ambia, has been trending on Twitter. 

“Even though we’re COVID-19 positive, we as a family will go through this together. Plus, our health condition is okay. Here’s a TikTok (video) we made to entertain ourselves in hospital,” she wrote.

In a conversation with Bernama via Twitter, Erika Syamim – the eldest among the five siblings – said her father, Dr Samsu Ambia Ismail, is a specialist and the head of the emergency and trauma department at Teluk Intan Hospital. 

He was the first in the family to be infected and has been isolated in hospital for the past six days.  

Erika Syamim, her four siblings aged between eight and 15, and their mother were isolated a day later. 

“We are fighting the virus with our own antibodies and hope we’ll be fine after the 14-day quarantine,” she said.

At the time of writing, Erika Syamim’s Twitter post has received nearly 340,000 views and 29,100 likes.

Asked by a social media user online about the symptoms of the disease, she said her father had fever, cough and breathing difficulties while the rest of them just had a fever.

Users flooded her Twitter post with words of encouragement, prayers and hoped they would stay strong and recover soon.

Erika Syamim also had some advice for other patients, especially Muslims, to continue to pray and recite the Quran.

“If you are in the ward, don’t be lemau (sluggish). Be cheerful, insyaallah (God willing) we can fight the disease too,” she said.

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