A 66-year-old Chinese national in Singapore was confirmed to be infected with the Wuhan virus on Jan. 23.
He was found to be staying in Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort.
When Mothership went down to Sentosa at 9:42pm, the hotel already had a media room ready.
The lobby area was filled with some guests who had obviously just gotten the news of the Wuhan virus as well.
A family of five from Jiangsu who had arrived in Sentosa a while back, but had been hotel hopping all across the island.
They approached the desk to make sure they didn't get the same room as the infected man.
A lady from that group also gave an interview with the media.
The woman said she is particularly worried for young children below eight and those above 60.
She also expressed her fear that if she does stay at the resort, she might get quarantined when she goes back to China.
Guests wanted to know more
A Singaporean man, who had checked in on January 21, 2020 with his 6-year-old child, was visibly irritated at having been at the resort at the same time as the infected man.
He kept repeating "why didn't MOH say earlier?".
According to Josef Dolp, executive Vice President of Operations, Southeast Asia and Australia, the man was merely a suspicious case, and Shangri-La only knew at the same time as the government that the man did indeed have Wuhan virus.
Yet another tourist was berating the hotel front desk because the hotel had not informed guests of the man with the Wuhan virus.
She was also frustrated at the hotel for not proactively giving out masks.
Other guests tried to get the staff to say which floor the man had stayed in, but were denied.
Shangri-La however is already in orange level alert, which means even more thorough cleaning as well as increased vigilance on potentially unwell guests.
They have also thoroughly cleaned and disinfected the man's room.
Shangri-La Rasa Resort then gave a briefing to some of the media who had made their way there.
You can read about it here.
After the press conference, as I got on a ride back home, the driver made me wipe my hands and bag with a wet wipe before I entered her car.
Precautions.
All images by Joshua Lee