17 staff members of Kasr Al-Aini Hospital tested positive for COVID-19

CAIRO - 19 April 2020: Seventeen staff members at Al- Kasr Al-Aini Teaching Hospital affiliated to the Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), announced Dean of the faculty Hala Salah.

In remarks to “Al-Hikaya” talk show on MBC channel, Salah added that the infected staff members include doctors, nurses, and employees, noting that the dean assistant is one of the registered COVID-19 cases.

She affirmed that the Al-Kasr Al-Einy Specialised Hospital, which is separate from the teaching hospital, will become an isolation hospital to prevent the infection from spreading. Salah said that Egypt has started the phase of infection peak.

As yet, 900 blood samples have been taken from people close to the infected patients for the PCR testing, while the Teaching Hospital was evacuated.

According to Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed, the new cases raise Egypt’s total number of COVID-19 cases to 3032 and deaths to 224.

He added that the number of coronavirus cases whose tests turned from positive to negative increased to 980, including 701 people who recovered from the virus.

"The death rate for the COVID-19 in Egypt decreased from 7.5 percent to 7.3 percent," data published by the Health Ministry revealed.

Since mid-March, Egypt has taken certain strict measures to protect the public from the spread of coronavirus pandemic. The government has taken gradual steps in dealing with the coronavirus spread, starting with suspending schools and universities, as well as international flights.