• Four-year-old Muhammad Ali Zafir Mohamed Azmi was taken to hospital on Nov 1
• He had been suffering from chills, stomach pain and high fever
• Doctors diagnosed him with the rare condition paediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C)
• He spent time intubated in the children’s intensive care unit but has been moved into a high dependency ward
• His mother said the boy is “better now” though he is still “fragile” and needs to remain hospitalised 

SINGAPORE — A four-year-old boy who developed a syndrome linked to a Covid-19 infection was transferred out of the children’s intensive care unit (ICU) into a high dependency ward on Tuesday (Nov 9).

Speaking to TODAY on Wednesday, Ms Marilyn Cacanindin, 39, said that her son’s condition is “better now” and that he “cannot wait to go home”.

“He’s been asking for his McDonald’s (meal) since this afternoon, but I say ‘cannot’ for now as he is still not well yet,” she said.

“All the doctors and nurses here are closely monitoring him as he is still fragile.”

In a Facebook post earlier on Tuesday, Ms Cacanindin said that her son Muhammad Ali Zafir Mohamed Azmi continues to be “fragile at the moment”.

She thanked members of the public for their prayers for her son.

“Please help us continue to pray for his fast recovery,” she wrote in the post.

The boy was taken to the KK Women's and Children's Hospital on Nov 1 after having chills, stomach pain and a persistent high fever. Upon admission, he was moved from the high dependency ward to the children’s ICU where he was intubated.

Doctors at the hospital then diagnosed Ali with paediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a rare syndrome linked to a previous infection of the coronavirus. It is known to cause symptoms such as persistent fever and difficulty in breathing.

Ali was one of four children detected to have MIS-C among the more than 8,000 children infected with the coronavirus here since the start of the pandemic, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said last Saturday.

The other cases of the disease were a two-month-old girl and two boys aged three and eight.

On Monday, a fifth case of MIS-C was detected here, Dr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State for Health, said at a press conference. No other details were given.

MOH said previously that an international review from 26 countries in May last year reported a MIS-C incidence rate of 0.14 per cent (14 in 10,000) among all children with Covid-19.

Ms Cacanindin on Wednesday said that she and her family had been taking the ordeal “slowly day by day”.

“My (other) children are missing their (younger brother) and they’ve been asking about him more often,” she said.

“Hopefully Ali can gain his strength again like before. He is a very active child and loves playing games with his siblings and aunts.”

Besides Ms Cacanindin, Ali’s aunt Nur Hudah Alwi has also been updating members of the public through social media on her nephew’s condition since he was admitted to the hospital.

In a Facebook post, Ms Hudah said that Ali cannot go home yet and needs to be warded for “a bit longer”.

“He is still on medications that he needed to help him with his recovery. No solid food yet. He just drinks milk for now. He asks for toys and food,” Ms Hudah wrote.

Ms Cacanindin said that Ali has since been able to have video calls with his teachers and principal at his childcare centre, as well as talk to his grandparents.

“It makes him so happy and he looks forward to going to school again,” she said.

She hopes her son’s experience will help inform other families.

“The whole situation is a nightmare for us. Who would have thought this would happen to a young boy like him.

“Everything happened too fast. It’s like a roller-coaster that happened in just one day,” she said.