SINGAPORE - With their metallic exterior, the box-like isolation rooms at Singapore General Hospital's newly built Ward @ Bowyer resemble futuristic capsules sheltering people from the hustle and bustle of space travel.
Each tightly sealed room - comprising a bed, side table and an attached toilet and shower - is 2.3m by 5.6m, with a height of 2.5m.The room is kept at a lower pressure compared with the outside, so that viral particles inside will not escape when the door is opened. The biosensor is worn around the right wrist like a watch, with the sensor wrapped around the ring finger like a plaster. It sends patients' heart rate, respiration rate and oxygen saturation level readings wirelessly to the clinicians.
After the doctor"checked in" on me at 9am, the lull began. The room was silent except for the air-conditioner's whirr and the occasional faint murmur of nurses outside.