Melaka wife widowed by Covid-19

 

Nurhaffizzah Jamal lost her husband Norizuwan Omar (right) due to Covid-19. - Pic courtesy of Nurhaffizzah Jamal

MELAKA: in Kampung Bukit Darat, Tanjung Kilang here has to come to terms with raising her two children alone after her husband recently died from Covid-19.

What started as a fever and cough escalated into severe symptoms associated to Covid-19 and led to the death of her husband, Norizuwan Omar, 34, all in less than a week after he tested positive for the virus.

Nurhaffizzah, also 34, said Norizuwan developed a mild fever and cough on Aug 3 before he decided to undergo a Covid-19 swab test at a private clinic the following day.

To the couple's horror, the results for her husband, who was an employee at a factory in Alor Gajah, returned positive.

"On the instructions of his employer, my husband underwent another swab test on Aug 6 and the result also returned positive.

"My husband was instructed by healthcare workers from the Health Ministry to isolate and quarantine himself at home.

"When he was isolated in his room, our two daughters aged between six and 10 and I were not fitted with the pink wristband (for home quarantine)," said Nurhaffizah, who is a nurse at a private hospital.

She said her husband's condition worsened on Sunday when he complained of chest pains.

Nurhaffizzah added that her husband, however, refused to be admitted to the hospital and hoped his pain would subside.

Her husband's condition continued to deteriorate and he had difficulties breathing and suffered seizures the following day.

"A team of assistant medical officers and nurse from the Melaka Hospital, who arrived at our house at 6.45am, performed several emergency procedures on my husband but there was no positive response.

"He was then rushed to the Melaka Hospital. He died on arrival at the hospital. At the time, I was overwhelmed with emotions and found it hard to believe that he is no longer with us.

"In a short time, we lost him to Covid-19 though my husband did not have severe symptoms in the beginning," she said.

Her husband, she said, was buried at the Kampung Bukit Darat Muslim cemetery about 11am on Tuesday.

Nurhaffizzah said she and her two daughters were fitted with pink wristbands yesterday and are required to undergo home quarantine until Aug 28.

"My husband had once promised to take us around to several tourist hotspots in the state once the Movement Control Order was lifted and the Covid-19 pandemic is under control but this will never happen now," she said. - NST