WHO: 100% of Egypt's COVID-19 deaths had underlying health conditions

Almost 100 per cent of coronavirus deaths in Egypt were people with chronic diseases, the local representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced yesterday.

“Egypt is moving towards increasing the daily tests to monitor the coronavirus infections,” John Jabbour told reporters, calling on Egyptians “to immediately see a doctor if they develop symptoms similar to flu symptoms.”

Addressing medical staff at the country’s hospitals, Jabbour stressed that they “must limit their movement among the different health units.”

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“Thirteen per cent of the infected cases in Egypt are medical personnel,” he said.

Jabbour also warned against what he described as “the patients’ misuse of the protective equipment,” warning that it could lead to “more infections”.

“The use of face masks in the streets is not recommended because it gives a wrong feeling of safety. The same applies to gloves as they can transmit infection,” the official pointed out, stressing that the regular washing of the hands was the “most important precautionary tip”.

“30 per cent of death cases in Egypt die before reaching the hospital,” Jabbour continued, adding that the Egyptian authorities were carrying out “some 2000 virus test every day.”

“WHO is cooperating with Egypt’s health ministry on establishing a mechanism to measure death cases stats,” he continued.

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Calling on the local authorities to take more “stringent measures” to avoid the spread of the virus, the official stressed that the coronavirus “won’t disappear until a vaccine is created”.

He noted that there was “no scientific evidence to prove that the high [summer] temperature could eliminate the virus.”

On Sunday, Egypt registered 126 new infections, taking the total number of infections to 2,065 cases. It also recorded 13 new fatalities, bringing the total number of deaths to 159. Canadian researchers have said the figures are likely to be far higher.

Since appearing in Wuhan, China, in December, the virus has spread to at least 184 countries and regions. So far, at least 1,923,280 people worldwide have contracted the virus, of whom more than 119,587 have died; 443,883 have recovered, according to the US’ Worldometers. WHO has declared the crisis a pandemic.