Coronavirus: 35 medical personnel in Cairo hospital test positive

CAIRO – 10 May 2020: As 50 medical personnel at a hospital in the capital Cairo were tested for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), 35 were found to be positive, an official at the Egyptian Medical Syndicate said late on Saturday.

This comes as Egypt saw a surge in the daily number of coronavirus cases over the past two days, reporting a total of 8,964 cases and 514 deaths since the crisis started, according to the latest figures announced on Saturday.

“The medical team, the real heroes, are still paying the price,” Ibrahim Al-Zayat, who also served as the head of the Dakahlia Medical Syndicate, said in a Facebook post, referring to Al-Zahraa Hospital that belongs to Al-Azhar University, the country’s first oldest degree-granting university.

The infected staff included “leading” figures at the University of Al-Azhar and the hospital, including the dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the girls’ sector at the university, as well as 17 male and female doctors, Zayat said in press remarks.

They were quarantined at Al-Azhar University Specialized Hospital, he noted.

Sisi orders providing needed medical supplies for quarantine hospitals

CAIRO - 28 April 2020: Egypt's president Abdel Fattah al Sisi ordered Tuesday, providing all needed medical supplies to the quarantine and isolation hospitals all over the country. According to presidency spokesperson Bassam Rady, Sisi followed up with latest updates regarding workflow inside of the isolation hospitals, during a video conference meeting with number of the hospital's directors.

Mahmoud Seddik, deputy head of the university said Al-Zahraa Hospital has so far 38 coronavirus cases, noting that the number of people who were tested on Saturday is 74. Also, 100 contacts will be tested.

In an interview with Ala Mas’oliety program on Sada Al-Balad channel, Seddik suggested that the source of infection is an employee at the hospital’s kitchen or his wife who is working at the administrative building of the hospital.

Sterilization process will take place in coordination with the hospitals belonging to the university.

The Egyptian Medical Syndicate does not have accurate figures for doctors who have been found to be positive, but according to the latest figures obtained from the syndicate’s branches nationwide, 90 doctors were infected, said Ihab Taher, secretary-general of the Doctors' Syndicate.

The World Health Organization said in a report on April 13 that the infected medical staff represent 13 percent of the total cases in Egypt, Taher added.

The Health Ministry on Saturday said 488 people in Egypt tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) recently and 11 people died with the novel virus.

The test results of 2,476 people of the reported cases turned from positive to negative, including 2,002 people who fully recovered.

Also, 57 cases, all of them Egyptians, left hospital after they recovered, according to the instructions of the World Health Organization (WHO).