A state of panic has taken hold in the Fifth Settlement neighbourhood of the Egyptian capital Cairo because of a series of deaths from coronavirus infection in the area that is locally known as “the neighborhood of the rich.” The death toll in Fifth Settlement has reached at least six, including two military generals. Cairo ranked highest out of all the governorates in the death toll of COVID-19, with deaths in Cairo alone reaching at least 14 out of 40 deaths officially announced by the Egyptian authorities. Half of the deaths in the capital were concentrated in the Fifth Settlement, where many army leaders live. The two newly deceased major generals, Shafie Dawoud, head of major project management in the Engineering Authority, and Khaled Shaltout, chief of staff for water management, lived in the Fifth Settlement. The two brigades transmitted the infection to several of their family members, and those who came into close contact with them before their death. Afterwards there were three deaths in the neighbourhood, on March 26 and 27.

Media sources said that at least one other of the four latest deaths in Cairo Governorate was a resident of the Fifth Settlement neighbourhood, which raises the number of deceased there to at least six.