48 Members of Single Egyptian Family Contract Coronavirus

Sayyed Nasser. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Sayyed Nasser. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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48 Members of Single Egyptian Family Contract Coronavirus

Sayyed Nasser. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Sayyed Nasser. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Sayyed Nasser, a young Egyptian, is one of the 48 members of his family who tested positive for coronavirus. His journey towards recovery, however, did not end upon his discharge from the hospital, but will extend to another 14 days he will spend quarantined at home.

His mother was also discharged on Monday and will also spend 14 days in self-isolation.

Nasser, who works at a private company, says that despite returning home, his life has not returned to normal. He and his family live in fear even after being discharged from the hospital and despite knowing that the virus could affect anyone.

“I haven’t returned to work and I am spending quarantine with my mother,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Nasser’s story with the coronavirus dates back to March 27, when one of his uncles showed symptoms but was initially misdiagnosed. After a few trips to the hospital, and getting much worse, his uncle received the proper diagnosis.

Four hours after knowing that his uncle had the coronavirus, symptoms began to show on his grandmother who died shortly after being diagnosed herself.

Nasser, who is in his 30s, did not receive the news of her passing very well. What was harsher was the burial processes, whereby locals refused to have her buried in the neighborhood cemetery, fearing the body may be contagious.

Eventually, the Nasser family was able to bury her in one of the Gharbia governorate cemeteries.

The family’s sorrow did not end with the grandmother’s death. Soon after, the coronavirus claimed the lives of two of Nasser’s uncles and had infected 48 members of the family, including children and pregnant women.

But the virus was not severe for all of Nasser’s family. According to him, 90 percent of his relatives did not show any symptoms and only suffered the wait for test results to reveal whether they had the virus or not.



RSF Leader: Armed Groups Responsible for Escalation in Sudan's El Fasher

Commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohammed Hamdan Daglo in southern Darfur. (AFP file photo)
Commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohammed Hamdan Daglo in southern Darfur. (AFP file photo)
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RSF Leader: Armed Groups Responsible for Escalation in Sudan's El Fasher

Commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohammed Hamdan Daglo in southern Darfur. (AFP file photo)
Commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohammed Hamdan Daglo in southern Darfur. (AFP file photo)

Commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, also known as Hemedti, slammed on Sunday the “popular resistance,” saying they were a cover for the brigades of the ousted regime and whose members were from the army and other security forces.

In a voice recording on Eid al-Adha, he congratulated the Sudanese people on the occasion, saying their country was “going through extraordinary circumstances because of the war that was sparked by the Islamist movement with the help of the army command.”

This was Daglo’s first address to the public in two months.

“We are pained by the conditions our citizens are going through and we are working on easing their suffering to achieve peace and stability and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid,” he went on to say.

On the situation in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, Daglo blamed the escalation there on armed factions “that have abandoned neutrality and chosen to side with their slaughterer.”

“They attacked our forces, so we had no choice but to defend ourselves,” he stressed.

He said the development in Wad al-Noura in al-Jazirah state was a military battle between the RSF, army, Islamist movement brigades and the security agency. He declared that the RSF succeeded in deciding the battle in its favor.

Clashes in the rural town have left over 100 people dead and injured.

Daglo stressed the importance of opening humanitarian corridors to deliver aid to the people. “We reject the practices committed by the gang in Port Sudan,” he added, in reference to the army.

He blamed the military for impeding the delivery of aid throughout Sudan, accusing it of war crimes.