KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 — National hammer throw champion Jackie Wong warns that Covid-19 is not a joke and advises Malaysians to take it seriously to check its spread.

Being a super-fit athlete and holding the national record of 68.22 metres (m), the furthest thing on his mind was that he would be a Covid-19 victim.

"Covid-19 does not discriminate. It never occurred to me that I would contract the virus but I take it as a test, perhaps during this month-long quarantine, God wants to learn something.

"I advise people who do not have any tasks outside not to leave their homes. It is better to stay home than at the hospital,” he told Bernama in a phone interview.

Jackie, 27, is the first Malaysian athlete to be confirmed positive for Covid-19 and due to inconsistent results on his test samples, he has so far spent a month in isolation for treatment at the Sibu Hospital in Sarawak (since March 15).

His latest Covid-19 test samples which were taken on Monday had come back positive. Even though his symptoms have subsided, he has to test negative in two consecutive tests further before he can be discharged from the hospital.

For the record, he has broken the national record in the event a staggering 17 times.

And being a fighter, he said it was this spirit that kept him going to "lick” the virus despite it having floored him for almost a month now.

Jackie also said that his coach Gu Yuan, from China, is monitoring his situation closely and has asked him to focus on recovery and not think of "form”.

"We are constantly in touch and I often him send video clips of the training I am doing so that he (Gu Yuan) can assess my progress, but he always advises me not to focus too much on my fitness regimen so that I can recover faster,” said Jackie, who also suffers from asthma.

He said his routine at the hospital was reading books or watching movies in the mornings while physical exercises to improve fitness was the norm in the afternoons. — Bernama