Egypt: rate of coronavirus cases ‘likely to be higher than figures suggest’

Egypt: rate of coronavirus cases ‘likely to be higher than figures suggest’

At least 97 foreign nationals who visited Egypt since mid February showed symptoms or tested positive for Covid-19 on return home, according to public health data and news reports.. Egyptian officials say that an additional 100 foreign nationals and Egyptians have tested positive for the coronavirus since mid-February.. Her death, the first of an Egyptian citizen during the current epidemic, came a week after officials removed 45 passengers from the Asara cruise ship later quarantined in Luxor.. Some 82 passengers left quarantine on board the ship and travelled home just days later, after officials from Egypt's Ministry of Health flew to Luxor to screen 558 more people - all tested negative.. Taiwan's Centre for Disease Control disproved statements by Egypt's ministry of health that a Taiwanese woman on board the Asara cruise was the source of the infection in Luxor in late February.. Infectious disease specialists from the University of Toronto who studied the disparity between official and likely infection rates in places like Iran provided a grim picture of the possible spread of the virus in Egypt.. Egypt has an overwhelmingly young population, meaning that fewer people will display serious symptoms of COVID-19..