12 COVID-19 patients recover, 13 new cases confirmed: ministry

CAIRO - 13 March 2020: The Health Ministry announced Thursday that 12 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) patients were discharged from hospital after receiving necessary medical care.

In a statement, Khaled Megahed, the ministry's spokesman, said that the discharged cases are of seven Egyptians and five foreigners, increasing to 20 the total number of recovery cases since the country announced the detection of its first case of the disease.

Thirteen new cases of coronavirus infection were registered today, all of them had been in contact with previously confirmed cases, he also said, noting that they included 10 Egyptians and three foreigners. One of the cases, which was of a 60-year-old woman, died in Mansoura Chest Hospital, in Dakahlia Governorate, where she had been admitted yesterday morning suffering from acute pneumonia and was later confirmed to be a coronavirus case.

Today’s fatality brings the number of COVID-19 deaths in Egypt to two, Megahed noted. The first one was of a German citizen who passed away on Sunday, March 8, he said.

Egypt has so far reported 80 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, he added.