Egyptian prosecutors open investigation into death of at least four coronavirus patients at public hospital
The governor of Sharqia province has denied allegations by a relative of one of the patients that the deaths were caused by a lack of oxygen at the government-run intensive care unit that treats patients with COVID-19. Governor Mamdouh Ghorab said patients died because they suffered from chronic diseases in addition to the virus. Ruda, who also filmed the video, did not provide immediate evidence to support the claim that the hospital ran out of oxygen.
Egypt, the most populous country in the Arab world with more than 100 million people, is facing an increase in the number of confirmed cases of viruses and once again calls on the government to impose a blockade to contain a second wave of pandemic.
Sharqia Prosecutor’s Office said it is investigating the deaths. The director of the hospital and the doctors were interrogated, according to an official from the Cairo prosecutor’s office who spoke on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to inform the press.
The four dead were two women aged 60 and two men, aged 76 and 44, according to local news. Currently, 36 patients with the virus are being treated in the hospital’s isolation ward, the governor said.
The deaths followed similar allegations by a relative last week that two patients died from lack of oxygen at a government-run hospital elsewhere in the Nile Delta. Prosecutors in Menoufiya province launched an investigation into the cause of death on Friday.
The Egyptian health authority has announced that a Chinese vaccine developed by Sinopharm has been approved for emergency use, and inoculations will begin within two weeks. In televised comments on Saturday, Health Minister Hala Zayed said two other vaccines were being negotiated and purchased – one from Oxford University and AstraZeneca, as well as one from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said last month that the government had contracted 20 million doses of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and 30 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, according to the state daily Al-Ahram.
Egypt has seen an increase in the number of daily cases of COVID-19 reported in recent weeks. The Ministry of Health announced more than 1,400 new cases and 54 deaths on Saturday, one of the highest daily official figures since the beginning of the pandemic last year.
In total, Egypt reported 140,878 confirmed cases, including 7,741 deaths. However, it is believed that the actual number of COVID-19 cases in Egypt is much higher, in part due to limited testing and countless patients being treated at home or in private hospitals.