Ousted Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir was transferred to Aliaa Military Hospital in Omdurman for treatment and COVID-19 testing following his health's deterioration in prison.
Bashir’s brother, Abdullah, died last week after he contracted the coronavirus in prison. However, the Sudanese authorities rejected a request for the former president to attend the funeral.
He was later allowed to meet with the family for two hours on Thursday, according to Sudanese media.
Abdullah was the third member of the former Islamist regime who has died of coronavirus.
The former director of Bashir’s office, Major General Yasser Bashir, also died on Friday at Aliaa Military Hospital, where he was transferred from prison after contracting COVID-19.
A number of top Sudanese officials have been infected since the outbreak of the second wave of the pandemic, leading to the death of some, including former prime minister and head of the nationalist Umma Party Sadiq al-Mahdi.
Bashir is expected to be tested for COVID-19, even though he is not showing any visible symptoms of the virus.
He has been held in Kober prison in Khartoum since he was ousted by popular protests in April 2019, and he is on trial for the 1989 coup that brought him to power.
Bashir was last seen on November 17, when he, and other defendants, attended a hearing on charges of plotting the coup.
Last December, a Sudanese court sentenced Bashir to two years in prison in a corruption case, and he is also under investigation on charges of killing protesters.
Bashir, 76, is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during the conflict in the western Darfur region between 1959 and 2004, which killed 300,000 and displaced millions.
Meanwhile, Sudan’s Ministry of Health recorded 19 new COVID-19 related deaths, raising the total number of fatalities to 1,290. It also announced 661 new confirmed cases, bringing the country’s total to 19,196, with 10,942 recoveries.
In al-Gezira, health authorities declared 232 new cases and 30 deaths within ten days. Gezira is the second state most affected by the pandemic after Khartoum.
The health authorities announced strict measures, including social distancing, wearing masks, and regular hand washing. Classes in schools and universities were also suspended.
The Emergency Health Committee announced it would reduce staff numbers to half, adding that workers over the age of fifty were granted paid leave.
Sudan entered a total lockdown for about six months during the first wave of the pandemic, but compliance with the measures was not complete.
The government is trying to avoid another lockdown over the deteriorating economic situation.
