Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash

Italy’s first coronavirus patient has opened up on his experience with the disease saying he was “on death’s door” as his daughter was born and father died while he was in a coma.

Mattia Maestri, 37, believed to be Italy’s coronavirus patient number one, was discharged from hospital in the town of Codogno, in the northern region of Lombardy on 23rd March and has now spoken to local newspaper La Repubblica about his experience.

He first went to the emergency room as he was suffering from respiratory problems. He was initially sent home to recover as doctors believed he had pneumonia.

However, after he noticed that antibiotics were not helping his condition worsened and he was sedated before falling into a coma and being transferred to a different hospital whilst unconscious. He underwent a COVID-19 test which came back positive.

He explained: “I was unconscious, sometimes I dreamed but I do not remember what about. I did not suffer, but I had the clear perception that this peace was the precursor of death.

“I lost consciousness in Codogno thinking I simply had pneumonia and I woke up 20 days later in Pavia, having survived COVID-19. I was anonymous, the pandemic turned me into a symbol in Europe.”

He said: “Those two months were shocking, more than you can imagine. More than what you would see in a film. I suddenly got sick, I was on death’s door and I resuscitated.

While he was in a coma his wife, who was also suffering from coronavirus gave birth to their daughter Giulia on 17th March, while his father died from the disease.

He said: “On 19th March, Father’s Day, I called him from the hospital because I wanted to congratulate him. My mum answered crying. That is how I found out he had died.[…] Without having the opportunity of noticing it, life and death touch each other in silence.”

The father, who is an active sports fan, says his daughter’s birth “multiplied my physical energy, I could not leave while she was arriving”.

Italy’s patient number zero who infected Maestri remains unknown as he says he did not leave the town where he lives or change his social life.

He says that doctors told him that since January there had been many cases of pneumonia which had not been treated, saying the problem was that “nobody believed that coronavirus had arrived in Italy”.

One theory is that he was infected when he had a meal with friends who travelled abroad, according to reports.

According to the latest figures from the Johns Hopkins University, Italy has registered 187,327 cases of COVID-19, and 25,085 deaths.

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