7 killed as fire hits Egyptian hospital

A fire killed at least seven people and injured several others on Saturday at a private hospital that was treating coronavirus patients on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital Cairo, local sources and media said.

The fire broke out at about 9 a.m. at Misr Al Amal Hospital in El Obour, some 30 km (19 miles) northeast of central Cairo, and according to initial investigations was caused by an electrical fault, security and medical sources said, reports Reuters.

The hospital was evacuated and closed and patients were transferred to a public hospital in Cairo, the sources said.

Egypt has seen a sharp increase in the number of officially confirmed coronavirus cases over the past week. The health ministry recorded 1,189 new cases and 43 deaths on Saturday, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 131,315 cases including 7,352 deaths.

Health experts and some government officials say the real numbers are likely to be much higher due to the low rate of public PCR testing and the exclusion of private test results from the ministry's figures.