‘While you were sleeping’: Muscovite in shock after waking up from a coma in the middle of Covid crisis

While Covid-19 has dominated the news for what seems like a lifetime, one Russian only just heard about the pandemic. After spending two months in a coma, the Muscovite was shocked to learn that the whole world’s been shut down.

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Speaking to news agency RIA Novosti, the man’s attending physician, Andrei Reutov, explained that the patient had been admitted to hospital on March 6 and fell into a coma shortly after surgery.

“Six days after the operation, he plunged into a deep coma and was transferred to intensive care. Then he was diagnosed with double pneumonia, which had to be treated. He was even suspected of having coronavirus, but all the results came out negative,” Reutov said.

Reutov is a neurosurgeon at the ‘Central Clinical Hospital,’ the Russian president’s main medical institution. The large facility is located in the west of Moscow and is known as the place where former Russian President Boris Yeltsin passed away.

According to the newly awoken patient’s wife, at the time her husband went into a coma, they had heard of Covid-19 but it had barely begun spreading in Russia. “At that time, we had no obvious unrest due to the virus; everything was smooth,” she recalled. After weeks, the man woke up from his coma and began asking questions to the doctors – “Can I talk to you? I have a lot of questions. What is happening in the world? And where is my wife?” he asked, according to Reutov.

The patient’s wife explained how the man was in complete shock about the anti-coronavirus measures, such as restrictions on going for a walk and the requirement to wear gloves.

According to his spouse, the man is now recovering, can now walk, talk and eat, and is able to receive visitors.

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