A seven-year-old dog that belonged to a dead Covid-19 patient who waited for his owner to leave the hospital for three months, now lives in a dog shelter.

Briefly.co.za learned that the dog went with its elderly owner to Taikang Hospital located in Wuhan when he contracted the deadly disease in February.

Five days after being rushed to the hospital, the loyal dog’s best friend died but the loyal dog had no idea, Daily Mail reported.

A cleaner working at the health centre said despite its owner’s death, the dog refused to leave the hospital’s premises.

For three long months, the furry animal sat at the lobby waiting for its owner to walk out of the doors and take him back home.

Staff at the hospital did not chase him away and took turns to feed him and look after him.

Months later when the lockdown in the city was lifted, a shopkeeper working within the hospital took it upon herself to watch over Xiao. “I first noticed the little dog when I returned to work in the middle of April. I called him Xiao Bao.”

She later learned Xiao’s owner was a pensioner who lost the battle against Covid-19 in February.

Each morning the store owner went to work in the morning, the excited dog would welcome her and even bid her farewell in the evening.

Wu said anytime she tried to ferry the dog away from the hospital, it would always find its way back to the hospital.

The dog had to be taken away eventually when patients started complaining of its presence whenever they went to get treated.