Mahmoud Riad first journalist dies from COVID-19 in Egypt

CAIRO - 27 April 2020: Journalist Mahmoud Riad Abujabal, the head of Sports desk at EL Khamis online portal, died from the new coronavirus COVID-19 on Monday afternoon.

Riad Abujabal is the first journalist who died of the virus in Egypt. Three weeks ago, he and his family were tested positive for the disease and quarantined in al-Agoza hospital, in Giza.

Egypt recorded new 248 cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the last 24 hours, scaling up the total number of the infected cases to 4,782 on Monday, according to the Health Ministry's daily briefing on the pandemic.

This daily figure is the highest infection rate registered in Egypt so far. As for the mortality rate, it increased to 337 deaths after registering new 20 deaths in 24 hours, said Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed, noting that all the infected cases are Egyptians.

The number of COVID-19 cases whose PCR tests turned from positive to negative increased to 1,602, including 1236 people who recovered from the virus.

All positive cases are placed under quarantine at isolation hospitals, the spokesman said.


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, and international flights.

Furthermore, a night-time curfew has been imposed since March 24, 2020. Additionally, the Ministry of Awqaf [Endowment] extended the closure of the mosques and the places of worship nationwide until further notice.