SITIAWAN, Apr 13 (Sin Chew Daily) — Confinement lady Deng Li Jun, who travels abroad to care for newborns and their mothers, has no fear of isolation measures imposed to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.

In fact, Deng, 48, from Kampung Merbau, Ayer Tawar, enjoys her stay in Kuala Lumpur hotels, loves the food served at Ipoh hotels and finds room in Singapore hotels the smallest, when she is required to observe the quarantine after her travels.

With more than 20 years of experience as a confinement lady, Deng has traveled to Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan, Australia and other countries to work as confinement lady.

She has also rejected requests from clients based in Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 last March, Deng has so far gone through quarantine in Thailand, Singapore and Ipoh.

Initially she was fearful of having to undergo quarantine overseas as she was unfamiliar with the places.

She flew into Bangkok on March 17 last year to avoid the lockdown measures imposed by the Malaysian government a day later.

Deng ended up remaining in Bangkok for three months instead of one month due to lockdown.

She only managed to fly back to Kuala Lumpur in a chartered flight with Malaysian officers based in Bangkok in June.

Deng recalled that passengers aboard the plane were all wearing face masks. They did not talk nor take any food inside the plane throughout the entire flight.

"KL International Airport was scary. Soldiers and policemen were stationed at the airport. To visit a toilet, one had to be escorted either by a policeman or a soldier. It was very tense," she said.

Deng recalled spending six hours at KLIA to go through the screening procedures before arriving at the hotel for quarantine.

"Apart from being questioned, there were no conversations or interactions among the travelers," she added.

However, the fears and intimidation were gone the moment she started her quarantine at the hotel.

Deng praised the quarantine measures implemented by the government – three meals and two snacks in a day at the hotel. She even put on weight after staying in the hotel for two weeks as if she was enjoying a vacation.

"This could be due to the nature of my job. Each time I am with a family for a month, I take care of the mother and the newborn baby for the whole month.

The 14-day quarantine period is not that difficult for me to comply with. I watched TV, called my friends and my days were not boring," she said.

After the quarantine, Deng remained in Kuala Lumpur from July to September as a confinement lady and then traveled to Singapore in October, where she had to undergo quarantine too.

She returned to Ipoh in January and was required to undergo quarantine again in Ipoh upon arriving by flight from Singapore.

"I have yet to really love quarantine, but all I can say is that it depends on one's perception. If you regard quarantine as part of your job, it is not difficult to accept," she said.

Deng said she made many new friends during her quarantine periods at various places and also got the chance to try different types of hotel food.

At the end, she still finds Ipoh hotel providing the best food.