The authorities in Nigeria’s north-eastern Borno state have apologised to a coronavirus patient after it was wrongly announced that she had escaped from an isolation centre in the city of Maiduguri.

The woman was one of two patients authorities said had fled from a treatment centre.

The other patient, a man, was traced to his house in Maiduguri where he was found in a “critical” condition.

He is undergoing treatment in hospital.

The authorities apologised to the woman when she turned herself in at the hospital.

In a statement, Borno state government said it emerged that the woman was not informed that she had tested positive for the virus and needed to be in isolation.

Health officials are now tracing those who might have had contact with these two people.

Borno state has confirmed 30 cases of coronavirus so far.

It is considered vulnerable to the spread of coronavirus because of the ongoing, decade-long Boko Haram insurgency that has displaced more than two million people in the state.