CAIRO -- A second senior military officer in Egypt has died of the new coronavirus, state television reported Monday, as the officially declared death toll stood at 14 from 327 cases recorded nationwide. Maj. Gen. Shafee Dawood, head of major infrastructure projects at the military engineering authority, became the latest high-ranking figure in Egypt to die from COVasID-19 in hospital. His death comes after Maj. Gen. Khaled Shaltout, the army’s chief of water management, died from the virus late Sunday. State television said that Shaltout contracted the disease after having taken part in “sterilization” procedures to stave off the virus. Other high-ranking military officials have also been confirmed to have tested positive for the disease, security sources told AFP. The army released a video last week showing tanks spraying disinfectant in major Cairo sites including the central metro station in Tahrir Square, epicenter of the 2011 revolt that toppled longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak. Its engineering arm has been behind the construction of a new administrative capital, 50 km east of Cairo, as well as highways and roads. -- Agencies
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