Italian man who brought coronavirus to Nigeria reportedly tried to escape quarantine

The coronavirus patient quarantined at the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, Lagos, attempted to escape from the facility on Friday.

The patient, an Italian, was confirmed to have the virus on Friday morning, three days after he arrived in the country. 

He flew in from Milan, Italy, into Lagos before heading to Ogun state where he first showed symptoms of the disease.

According to Punchng.com, a health worker at the hospital told the Newspaper that the patient threatened to escape quarantine over the alleged poor state of the medical facility.

The patient complained about excessive heat and presence of mosquitoes at the hospital, the health official reportedly said.

The patient wanted to run away yesterday (Friday). The Italian man, who seems to be an engineer, was very angry that the room where he was kept was very hot. The only thing demarcating the room from other rooms in the ward is a red and white barricade tape. That is where the Italian man that tested positive to coronavirus is kept.

There is no single equipment inside that place. It is just like any other regular hospital room with a bed. That building you see that is being repainted is the original place meant to quarantine coronavirus patients.

As you can see, the place is not ready. The state government is just renovating it, despite the fact that the virus started spreading since December 2019. It is really sad that a country like Nigeria is never ready to medically contain infectious disease outbreak.

The Lagos state government has over described this as untrue. The state government insists that the patient is in a stable condition and has been moved to a better and more conducive place.

Government officials maintain Nigerians would be updated regularly on the progress been made regarding the patient and containment of the virus.