Patient flees hospital before coronavirus test can be carried out

A man who was due to undergo coronavirus test “absconded” from a Zimbabwe hospital, the country’s health ministry said.

The 26-year-old patient returned from Thailand late February and was admitted at the Wilkins Infectious Disease Hospital on March 8 after he reported symptoms such as sneezing, fever, and cough, the ministry said.

His medical condition did not meet the WHO case-mdefinition for coronavirus such as acute respiratory illness, but health officials wanted to test him as part of surveillance procedures before he ran away from the hospital on Monday, Zimbabwe’s health ministry said in a statement.

The health ministry has reported the matter to the police and also sent officials to his home.

Zimbabwe has not recorded a case of the coronavirus virus.

Meanwhile, African countries are preparing against the pandemic and have put in place initiatives to protect their citizens. In Rwanda’s capital Kigali, passengers must wash their hands with soap from mobile faucets installed at bus stops before they get on board.

A video of residents washing their hands with these facilities in Kigali was shared by local newspaper New Times on Tuesday.

So far, ten African countries including Algeria, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Senegal, Tunisia, Togo, Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria and Morocco have reported nearly 100 coronavirus cases, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

Burkina Faso recorded two cases on Tuesday bringing the total number of cases on the continent to nearly 100, the WHO tweeted.

The patients are a couple, one of whom recently returned from France, where health authorities are racing to control the spread of the new virus. The pair are under quarantine in the country.

The West African nation is the sixth in sub-Saharan Africa to report positive cases of the virus.