A man in Denmark has broken into a hospital and attempted to steal 27 bottles of hand sanitiser, East Jutland police have reported.
The man, aged between 18 and 30 years, set off a burglar alarm at Aarhus University Hospital late on Sunday evening and was foiled by hospital security staff shortly afterwards.
“The perpetrator shouted to the guard, that if he came any closer he would stab him with a knife," East Jutland Police said in a later-issued press release.
The man then escaped by making it to a small, dark-coloured car and driving off. During his getaway, however, he discarded the two bags he was carrying, which turned out to contain no fewer than 27 bottles of hand sanitiser and two laptops. The police said that the man was wearing tracksuit bottoms and a parka jacket.
Hospitals have been given priority access to hand sanitiser in Denmark, which is no longer available in shops and supermarkets as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Danish Medicines Agency has warned that the health sector is at risk of running out of protective equipment, such as face masks and sanitiser, in the fight against coronavirus. In its recent appeal, it encouraged everyone to save as much as possible on protective equipment, lest the stream of supplies dry out.
“We take the situation very seriously, and we work non-stop all week to procure protective equipment for the Danish health service,” Danish Medicines Agency director Thomas Senderovitz told Danish Radio.
Worldwide, the coronavirus stemming from the Chinese province of Hubei has infected over 381,000 people in over 170 nations. While over 16,500 people have died from the virus, over 102,000 have successfully recovered.
