Egypt investigates deaths of four coronavirus patients after video goes viral

Health Minister Hala Zayed and governor of Sharqyah Mamdouh Ghorab deny claims patients died of a lack of oxygen

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El Sisi is seen on a bottle of sanitiser, Reuters

Authorities in Egypt are investigating the deaths of four coronavirus patients at a hospital in the Nile Delta.

The government denied allegations they were caused by a shortage of oxygen.

Word of the incident in the intensive care unit of the state-run Al Husseinya Hospital in Sharqyah province reached the public after a video clip reportedly showing the moments after the four deaths appeared online.

It created a storm on social media and sparked allegations of negligence and a cover-up.

The video appears to show staff at the hospital struggling to keep the patients, two women and two men between the ages of 44 to 76, alive.

One nurse can be seen with her head buried in her hands while others rush past her.

A female voice, apparently belonging to a relative of one of the four, is heard using strong language to berate the government for alleged negligence.

But Health Minister Hala Zayed and the governor of Sharqyah, Mamdouh Ghorab, denied that the patients died from a lack of oxygen.

Neither had they died at the same time, the officials said.

Mr Ghorab said the four had pre-existing conditions, which were compounded by coronavirus.

The incident, together with a similar one elsewhere in the Nile Delta, created such a stir Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli conferred with Mrs Zayed on Sunday night for a review,  in what appeared to be an unscheduled meeting.

News of the four deaths broke after two coronavirus patients in Menoufyah, another Nile Delta province, died last week at a government-run hospital. Relatives attributed those deaths to a lack of oxygen. Authorities said the two patients there also suffered pre-existing conditions.

Prosecutors questioned relatives of the two deceased. They have ordered health experts to examine the equipment used at the hospital, to ascertain its condition and whether the deaths were caused by negligence.

There were no details available on the investigation into the four deaths in Sharqyah except that Ms Zayed has sent teams to the hospital there and the one in Menoufyah to check on the oxygen supply and the equipment used to administer it.

A health ministry statement quoted Ms Zayed as saying that a daily report on the availability of oxygen at hospitals nationwide would be submitted to the prime minister.

Egypt, the most populous Arab nation, with more than 100 million people, is in the grip of a surge of confirmed Covid-19 cases.

This has prompted the closure of schools and universities until late February.

The government, however, is resisting calls for a lockdown, arguing that it would damage the economy.

Instead, authorities are seeking to more diligently enforce preventive measures such as social distancing and the mandatory use of masks in crowded public spaces.

Authorities, meanwhile, announced that the vaccine made by China's Sinopharm has been approved for emergency use, and inoculations would begin within two weeks.

In televised comments on Saturday, Ms Zayed said negotiations were also under way to procure two other vaccines — one from Oxford University and AstraZeneca and one from Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech.