Egypt recorded a second successive daily rise in coronavirus-related deaths with 17 new fatalities, lifting the total toll to 135, the health ministry announced on Friday.
The number of new infections grew to 1794, with 95 new coronavirus cases, it added. The ministry also added that 36 Egyptians have fully recovered on Friday, which brings the total number of recoveries to 384.
All new cases are of Egyptian nationality, and were detected through the ministry’s surveillance procedures.
According to health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed, 30 percent of the total death toll passed away before arriving to the isolation hospital.
Earlier this week, Egypt extended its partial curfew by another two weeks until 23 April.
While it is too early to calculate the overall death rate from the novel virus, but so far it has been said that it is more deadly than the seasonal influenza and has killed far more people than Ebola.
“It has been more widespread than SARS and MERS. More people are getting infected. But less of those people who are getting infected are actually dying from it,” Aria Bendix, a senior science reporter for Business Insider revealed.
In Egypt, 17 laboratories across the country now have the capacity to test cases, and an additional four will be added soon as well as university laboratories will also be engaged.
Egypt now has the capacity to conduct up to 200,000 tests, which is critical to diagnose those who are sick and to monitor where the virus may be lurking.
*Featured image showcases Egyptians bound for GCC countries gathering in front of the Central Public Health Laboratories in downtown Cairo as they wait to get tested for coronavirus (COVID-19) on March 8, 2020. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)
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