Coronavirus patient attacks and bites nurse's face after she tried stopping him from leaving quarantine
A Chinese nurse was left bruised and in tears after a novel coronavirus patient savagely attacked her when she tried to stop him from leaving quarantine.
Okonkwonwoye Chika Patrick, 47, brutally assaulted nurse Wang Hong after she tried to prevent him from escaping the ward at the Guangzhou Eighth People’s Hospital where he was being quarantined since March 23, according to the Daily Mail.
Patrick, a Nigerian citizen, had tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Guangzhou city of southern China from abroad on Friday, March 20. He had subsequently been placed in isolation, as is mandated, and was due for a blood test on April 1, which is when the unruly incident unfolded.
Hong had been assigned to take the test but when she asked him, he ignored her and attempted to walk out of his quarantine ward. Police said that, when she tried to stop him, he pushed her to the ground, "beat her up," and bit her on her face.
Graphic and disturbing footage uploaded on Chinese social media that has since gone viral shows Hong bursting into tears as her swollen face is covered scratches and lacerations. She had also suffered bruises on her neck and waist as a result of the assault.
Patrick was detained after he was subdued by hospital staff and is currently receiving anti-virus treatment under supervised isolation by the Guangzhou police, who have said they are still investigating the incident and will "immediately carry out prosecution once the treatment is finished."
"At the moment, the patient still tests positive," a statement from the police read. "The hospital has strengthened its security measures in the internal isolation zone."
"The police would like to stress again that all inbound travelers should strictly comply with the relevant laws and anti-virus regulations in China," the statement added.
Hong was reportedly wearing personal protective equipment at the time of the incident but has still been tested for a variety of possible infections, including COVID-19.
Guangzhou Eighth People’s Hospital, the largest infectious disease facility across China’s southern regions, also said they had increased security after the attack on the nurse.
This was not the first such attack on a medical professional amidst the novel coronavirus pandemic in China either. The Daily Mail reported that China had previously asked a Moroccan citizen to leave the country after he attacked health officers who had advised him to wear a facemask.
The incident is said to have taken place in north-western China's Xi'an city on March 29. The man allegedly became infuriated after the officers told him to wear the mask before entering the residential complex where he lived and yelled "m*****f*****" before throwing his phone at them.
The man, whose identity has not been revealed, was arrested by police for disrupting public services.
While the spread of the virus has slowed in China, experts have warned that the country could be facing a second outbreak due to the increasing number of imported cases, as well as the "silent carriers" who showed no symptoms.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus infections in China stands a little over 82,000, with over 3,300 dying from it, as per John Hopkins University's live-tracking dashboard.