A Romanian court has sentenced a man to one year in prison for breaking quarantine rules after he discharged himself from hospital without waiting for the results of a Covid-19 test.
The court in the eastern city of Buzau handed Matei Strugurel, 36, the sentence on Wednesday in the second case of its kind in Romania, Reporter Buzoian reported. The ruling isn’t final.
In April, the man was admitted to the Buzau County Hospital in April with a hacking cough.
The doctors decided to hospitalize him as his symptoms were similar to SARS-CoV-2. He was tested but left the hospital the next day without waiting for the test results, violating rules.
Police located him three hours later at the railway station and returned him to the hospital where he was placed in quarantine.
His Covid-19 test eventually came back negative. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis.
The man, who has no criminal record, was previously a resident of the Center for Integration through Occupational Therapy in Ramnicu Sarat, eastern Romania. He had mild mental disability.
In October, a 50-year-old man was given a six-month suspended sentence for leaving the same hospital without waiting for the results of a Covid-19 test. He also tested negative for the virus.
