A German tourist who was suspected of being infected with E. coli left Hurghada on Wednesday on a private plane that was arranged for him by his insurance company and the German Embassy.
The Red Sea Health Directory opened investigations into how the patient managed to escape from the hospital’s isolation unit on Tuesday after a blood sample was taken from him for testing.
However, Assistant Health Minister Adel al-Adawy said the patient was released from hospital upon his request and taken to a different private hospital that deals with his insurance company, in preparation for flying him back to Germany.
He said that the patient’s temperature was normal, but he could not rule out the possibility of infection before receiving the test results.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian government is mulling over whether to ban vegetable imports as a precautionary measure against the bacteria.
Nader al-Banna, undersecretary of the Basatin Agricultural Research Center, called for the testing of cucumber seeds that Egypt imports from Holland and France.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
