Fire in Egyptian hospital kills at least seven Covid patients

Blaze rips through an intensive care unit at a private hospital in Cairo

The fire in an Egyptian Covid ward comes as the country seeks to douse a conflagration of new infections. Alamy

Seven Covid-19 patients were killed and at least five injured after the intensive care unit of an Egyptian hospital caught fire on Saturday.

Local police said the blaze erupted at a private hospital in Obour, a suburb of Cairo, and that patients on the ward were transferred to other hospitals nearby.

Firefighters put out the blaze and police and prosecutors are investigating its cause.

Daily newspaper Al Ahram reported that an initial investigation found a short circuit caused the fire.

A similar blaze erupted at the coronavirus ward of a private hospital in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria in June, killing seven patients and injuring one. Another fire, in May, broke out at a coronavirus isolation centre in Cairo but no one was harmed.

Egypt is facing a surge in confirmed cases of the virus, forcing the government to reopen most of the Covid-designated hospitals that closed after the pandemic's first wave subsided.

On Saturday, the Egyptian Health Ministry reported its highest daily number of confirmed cases, 1,189, and 43 deaths.

The new numbers have brought the country's official tally to more than 131,000 cases, including at least 7,352 deaths.
But Egypt's population is more than 100,000 and the true number of cases is thought to be far higher, with the shortfall ascribed in part to limited testing.