A heavy chest was the only symptom that a COVID-19 patient could complain about when he made the initial call to the emergency helpline on Thursday.

Within hours, the Maltese man, who is in his 40s, was being tested at the Luqa swab centre.

That very evening, after a positive diagnosis, an ambulance was sent to pick him up and take him to the Infectious Diseases Unit (IDU) at Mater Dei Hospital.

He had returned to Malta from a business trip within Europe a few days earlier. Although he had been away for a mere 24 hours, he had thought it wiser to take precautions.

“The heavy chest wouldn’t have bothered me but I travel for work reasons quite regularly and I thought, let me do my part and check. The worst thing they could have told me was you’re wasting our time.”

A couple of hours later, the positive diagnosis came by phone.

Whatever anxiety he was feeling, he said, was calmed by the professionality of the doctors and medics, who were very forthcoming with information and clear in their instructions.

“You have no idea how seriously they are taking it. The doctors who called me as well as the doctor who came to pick me up in the ambulance… everything was impeccable. If I had to rate it anything short of 100 it would be misleading.”

Asked whether he had any suspicion of where or when he had contracted the virus, he said it was hard to say.

The health authorities are doing a great job

The business conference he was meant to attend had been cancelled as a precaution against the coronavirus and the airports were eerily empty. On both flights, he had taken care to wipe down his seat and tables with sanitisers, as others were doing the same.

“There was the smell of disinfectant everywhere and everyone seemed to be taking precautions.”

He had been sick with food poisoning a couple of weeks before and believes that his weakened immune system must have left him prone to the disease.

After landing in Malta, he was screened like everyone else but did not show any signs of fever and has not since.

He is being monitored constantly but, so far, other than the heavy chest, he has not experienced any coughing, sneezing or tiredness and is in good spirits.

Describing his ensuite room as “the Ritz as far as these things go”, he said he was being treated very well.

“The staff have been great. If I need something they respond right away. I have enough light, books, my laptop.”

Inside the isolation unit, the attention to detail is impressive. All the staff who visit are fully kitted, his room is disinfected twice a day and everything that leaves his room is decontaminated.

“I don’t know why there is all this panic. At this point in time panic really doesn’t solve anything and from what I am seeing in here there is a real sense of professionalism. The health authorities are doing a great job.”

His family are in quarantine themselves and the only communication he has had with them is by phone.

To come out of isolation he will have to test negative for the virus two days in a row and would then enter into quarantine at home.

Till then, he is remaining positive.

“I don’t usually get free time so I’m trying to make the best of it and take it easy.”