Coronavirus: British man narrates quarantine experience, says 'I felt like an exhibit'

Craig Dillon, the first-ever British man to be tested for coronavirus infection recently, while talking to an international publication opened up about his experience of being quarantined. The deadly epidemic has claimed 80 lives and infected over 2,700 people in China.

While speaking to Telegram, he compared his time in quarantine with a scene in the Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude law starrer Contagion. The 27-year-old started by saying that soon after he returned from a holiday in Australia via China, he felt ill. Initially, he thought that it was flu and continued to work but a few days later, he suddenly woke up sweating and out of breath one night. Following the incident,  he called 111 for medical assistance and after 10 minutes into the conversation the officers asked him, “Have you been to China recently?” Upon an affirmation by him, the officials asked him to rush to the nearby St Thomas Hospital.

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Describing the scene at the hospital he said, as soon as he arrived, he was made to lean against the wall. He further narrated that the doctor then “literally grabbed me by the arm and led me back outside the hospital.” He was then given a mask and lead through a ‘secret door’ leading him to a corridor. He added that at the end of the corridor there was a hospital room with a bed in the middle with all equipment around it completely prepped and ready to go.

'I felt like an exhibit' 

Describing his time in the quarantine, he said there was a big one-way glass with an intercom in it. “I was feeling so bad I was curled up on the bed and all I could hear was this vacuum cleaner noise,” he added. He later realised that it was a doctor and nurse putting their isolation suits on and checking their gloves. He went on to describe the experience as surreal.

He continued that the glass went from one way to two way and all he saw was people staring at him. He added that he felt like an exhibit while at the hospital. “The doctor and nurse came in wearing all this gear like they were walking on the moon. Their voices were muffled and I was delirious so I didn’t really understand what was going on,” he added.

Dillon said his blood was taken out and examined. He also revealed that the doctors put in swabs in nostrils and back of his throat for the examination. He was finally relieved when the doctors informed him that he wasn't infected with coronavirus though he had Pneumonia before saying that he was the first person in the UK to be tested for the virus.

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