Lyna Mohamad
More individuals were all smiles as they reunited with families after completing the mandatory self-isolation upon arrival in the country on August 5.
The batch included 25 individuals from Parkview Hotel and 14 from StarLodge in Jerudong, comprising expatriates, students and uniformed personnel.
Ustaz Tamam Hasan Agha, an Arabic teacher at Al-Falaah School, returned home from Syria after being away from his family for over five months.
Ustaz Tamam’s return flight to Brunei Darussalam was tiring as he had to catch a flight to Egypt then to Dubai and Kuala Lumpur before finally touching down in the Sultanate.
He expressed his gratitude to His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and His Majesty’s government for allowing flights into Brunei Darussalam and keeping people safe.
Focal person for the Ministry of Health (MoH) at the hotel Dr Jusrina noted that the isolation procedures at the hotel are in line with the MoH requirements.
The 14-day isolation does not include the day of arrival, hence individuals spend 15 days
in isolation.
Muhammad Danial Akmar bin Adi Akmar, who was on the same flight as Ustaz Tamam, said, “It was a new setting and it was something I had never experienced before. The first few days were quite exciting because you would wonder how to occupy yourself and try to adapt to the situation. I think missing human contact and feeling lonely are quite common in this situation.”
He said he looked forward to the swab test partly because of the impending human interaction and video calls with family and meetings with people from his university regarding work.
Muhammad Danial thanked His Majesty’s government for sponsoring the tests and his isolation at the hotel applauding the hard work and commitment of frontliners and volunteers.
MoH focal person at StarLodge Azman bin Haji Abidin said since isolation procedures began at hotels, the process has been smooth. However, he added there have been cases of individuals being cooped up in the room for too many days and begin feeling depressed and temperamental. He said it was a challenge, especially for frontliners who were new to
the experience.
He added that it was also common to find individuals pleading to be let out of isolation for a bit. Frontliners try their best to make them understand that such an activity is not allowed and it applies to everyone in isolation.