Haidir, 23, said it never crossed his mind that the message via a video call was his mother’s last words to him – to take over the responsibility of looking after his siblings – after both his parents succumbed to the virus, within a week of each other.
It was devastating for the siblings when their father, Rodzi Tahar, 55, died at the Tampin Hospital on May 31, their mother, Nazita Idris, 45, at the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital six days later.
“We are completely heartbroken but we accept that this is the will of Allah. The saddest thing was that we could not pay our last respects to our parents, to touch and kiss them for the last time, but our prayers are always with them,” he told Bernama.
Haidir and his four siblings – Hairie, 20, Nurhairieka, 18, Haiqiel, 13, and Khierzamani, seven, are now living at the family house in Sunggala, Port Dickson.
Haidir said his father had a mild fever on May 26 and decided to undergo screening at Port Dickson Hospital on May 29 before being confirmed positive the next day and sent to Tampin Hospital.
Doctors informed them that their father had died at 4.30am the next day.
“The saddest thing was my father did not have time to talk to us after being admitted to the hospital. He had a history of high blood pressure, diabetes and kidney disease while my mother had high blood pressure. So they were both at risk.
“We still don’t know the source of the infection or if they had any close contacts,” he said.
He said his mother went for screening on May 30 after experiencing symptoms such as fever and cough and tested positive the next day.
He said his siblings also tested positive for Covid-19 and underwent quarantine at home.
However, they did not experience severe symptoms and have recovered.
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