At least 10 doctors and six journalists have been arrested since the virus hit Egypt in February, according to rights groups. Other health workers say they have been warned by administrators to keep quiet or face punishment.
One foreign correspondent has fled the country, fearing arrest, and another two have been reprimanded over "professional violations."The coronavirus is surging in the country of 100 million, threatening to overwhelm hospitals. As of Monday, the Health Ministry recorded 76,253 infections, including 3,343 deaths -- the highest death toll in the Arab world.
But health workers are sounding alarm on social media. Doctors say they are forced to purchase surgical masks with their meagre salaries. Families plead for intensive care beds. Incensed doctors hit back, saying they're under-trained, underpaid and under-resourced, struggling to save patients. So far 117 doctors, 39 nurses and 32 pharmacists have died from COVID-19, according to syndicate members' counts. Thousands have fallen ill.
In March, public prosecutors accused 26-year-old Alaa Shaaban Hamida of terrorism charges after she let a colleague call the government coronavirus hotline from her phone instead of first reporting the case to her managers, according to Amnesty International. Three months pregnant, she remains in pretrial detention.
The suppression of criticism in Egypt is hardly unusual, analysts say, but the government has become more jittery as the pandemic tests its capabilities and economy.
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