Qandil told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Thursday that the ministry received 10 samples believed to have been infected with the virus. The samples were taken from areas of Cairo, Daqahlia, Minya and Sohag governorates.
Symptoms included high temperatures, dyspnea, coughing, while patients had all recently returned from a country where coronavirus has recently flared – Saudi Arabia.
The ministry, according to Qandil, took 800 random samples from pilgrims returning from Saudi Arabia between 22-31 October. Half of the total were examined and came out negative. The other half will reportedly be examined within the next two days.
Qandil denied news reports that a woman in Mansoura died of the disease on Tuesday. He instead claimed that the death had been caused by an infection with H1N1 virus, according to test results.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
