Egypt probes deaths of COVID-19 hospital patients due to alleged lack of oxygen

Egypt says it has opened an investigation into the deaths of four COVID-19 patients in an intensive care unit allegedly due to lack of oxygen, which sparked a public outcry.

“The prosecutor’s office in Al-Husseiniya (in the northern Sharqiya province) summoned the director of Al-Husseiniya hospital to question him over the deaths of four people due to lack of oxygen,” a judicial source tells AFP, without specifying the dates of the deaths.

Since yesterday, numerous social media users have shared a video of patients in a hospital ward, with a voice heard saying “everyone is dead in intensive care.”

The prosecutor’s office confirms the video is of Al-Husseiniya hospital, which was also identified in comments on social media.

The 45-second video also shows hospital staff apparently trying to revive patients.

“All died”

An eyewitness documents this shocking scenes from a quarantine hospital in Egypt. It shows all coronavirus patients in the intensive care unit died after the oxygen was cut off.

This is the second similar incident within 24 hours in Egypt.#العناية_المركزة pic.twitter.com/cZ7pPsETYS

— Osama Gaweesh (@osgaweesh) January 3, 2021

Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country with around 100 million inhabitants, has reported more than 140,000 cases of the COVID-19 disease, including 7,800 deaths.

Authorities acknowledge, however, that the real number of cases is higher, as only positive tests from health ministry labs have been reported.

After a brief lull, the number of infections have risen dramatically in late 2020, from around 100 new cases confirmed per day in October, to some 1,400 daily cases currently.

— AFP