It’s not easy being in the frontlines of a global pandemic. While most of us are sitting comfortably at home, staying clear of the virus outside, our frontliners risk their lives every day, braving through hot weather, fatigue, and just stubborn Malaysians, just to ensure that we are well protected.

Recently, a Twitter user by the name of Farihin shared his experience being a part of the COVID-19 sampling team during one of the mass sampling rounds at Wisma Hock Ann in Kuala Lumpur.

Mass sampling Wisma Hock An harini. The most challenging part since being of part of Covid 19 sampling team. pic.twitter.com/eJ04PyhBCt

— Farihin Mandagie (@farihinosteo) May 16, 2020

As they had previously encountered difficult tenants, they first had to go to the residents’ homes one by one to conduct home surveillance and sampling.

Since most of the team members were fasting, some of them were dehydrated, while there were those who fainted and even vomited.

Masuk jam 12 dah sorang team ak tewas muntah muntah teruk, tinggal aku dgn Dr Farid yg still steady jalankan aktiviti sampling. Panas xyah ckp, dgn keadaan suram, sempit, berbau, dahaga laa yang plg tak tahan kah kah pic.twitter.com/J3qlQpQEAN

— Farihin Mandagie (@farihinosteo) May 16, 2020

They divided themselves into two teams to cover the 14-storey high housing complex, as one floor has 10 units.

The whole ordeal proved to be challenging as the team had to face 4 hours of unhygienic surroundings and all kinds of odours coming from the complex.

Ketinggian rumah 14 tingkat, kami dibahagi kpd setiap satu team cover 2 floor. Satu floor ada 10 buah rumah. Keadaan persekitaran yg sgt unhygenic dan berbau mmg mencabar pahala poasa laa kateko. 4 jam hidu bau hancing busuk utk pastikan semua penghuni menjalani persampelan. pic.twitter.com/toKMEeG4Oq

— Farihin Mandagie (@farihinosteo) May 16, 2020

Not to mention, getting the residents to come out of their houses to perform the sampling was also difficult as some residents were just too stubborn. Some gave ridiculous excuses such as the lift wasn’t working, just to avoid going down to do the sampling.

Aktivit mengetuk pintu rumah ke rumah mmg mencabar utk paksa penghuni turun utk buat aktivit persampelan. Alasan kukuh diorang tak nak turun sbb lif rosak. Lif rosak dah 3 tahun wei. pic.twitter.com/craFcRi2qt

— Farihin Mandagie (@farihinosteo) May 16, 2020

At the end of it, one of their teammates could not continue with the sampling activity and it was left to him and one other teammate who remained till the end of the session.

Sorang tumbang, tinggal aku berdua utk teruskan hingga habis. pic.twitter.com/F3T6lVlZOB

— Farihin Mandagie (@farihinosteo) May 16, 2020

As a reminder, Farihin wrote that the Ministry of Health (MOH) is committed to fighting COVID-19 and that we have not won the battle just yet. It is up to us to win this by being a responsible citizen and giving our full cooperation to the frontliners.

Kesimpulan untuk harini, KKM komited utk perangi COVID 19, kita belum menang. Perjuangan ini terletak di tangan anda. Jadilah masyarakat yg bertanggungjawab dan sentiasa memberi kerjasama. pic.twitter.com/B5uvrQvDdN

— Farihin Mandagie (@farihinosteo) May 16, 2020

Farihin’s tweets have gone viral with netizens showing their support for the team and thanking them for their service.

This really breaks my heart.. seeing people dont wanna get tested, eventho its FREE! May Allah repays all your hardwork & perseverance with abundance of rahmat & rezeki. Thank you!

— Frz (@farzaida) May 17, 2020

Semoga dipermudahkan urusan. Terima kasih kerana kongsi kisah ini. Harap semua orang juga berkerjasama dengan frontliner.

— LizaYusof (@norhaslizayusof) May 17, 2020

Let’s all remember the sacrifices these frontliners had to go through just to keep us safe and do our part as a society in fighting this war with them. Together, we are stronger!

By: Siti Farhana Sheikh Yahya