Egypt’s Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday said the latest tests showed the person who was announced to be carrying the COVID-19 coronavirus in Egypt has tested negative for it, reported Reuters.
Last week, Egypt’s health ministry announced the person as the country’s first confirmed coronavirus case, without specifying his nationality.
On Wednesday, the health ministry and the WHO issued a joint statement to announce that the RT-PCR results of the foreigner came back 48 hours after the person was admitted to a hospital for quarantine. The person had undergone six RT-PCR tests in three consecutive days, the statement said, adding that the results of the tests came back negative each time.
“The health status of the person was monitored by medical teams around the clock … the person did not show any symptoms during the isolation period,” the statement read.
The statement quoted health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed as saying, “the test result was negative every time.”
He added that the case is in good health and has shown no symptoms of the illness.
The statement, however, did not specify the person’s nationality or reveal any detail regarding what port of entry he or she arrived at in Egypt. Even though the person showed no symptoms of the virus, WHO officials said the person is still being monitored and has not been released.
Also on Wednesday, the Egyptian Cabinet confirmed no suspected case of coronavirus was found at schools. It added that a number of precautionary preventive measures have been taken to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.
Earlier this week, the health ministry ended 14-day quarantine for 302 Egyptian citizens who had returned from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus, after all the tests conducted during the 14 days showed they do not carry the virus.
The coronavirus outbreak has infected more than 64,000 people globally. The WHO has named the illness COVID-19.
