(22 Apr 2020) LEAD IN:
When the coronavirus killed an Egyptian woman and her son, panicked locals tried to prevent their burials.
The virus struck the family hard, infecting at least 45 more members.
STORY-LINE:
Silence reigns over an Egyptian neighbourhood still licking its wounds from the deaths caused by the coronavirus.
Earlier this month, locals gathered around to try and block the burial of a woman who died from the virus and the police had to intervene.
Ghaliya was the family matriarch, a woman revered and loved by neighbours.
Both she and her 51-year-old son died from the coronavirus.
Both died alone, one day apart.
Where they lived, just north of Cairo, many are still struggling to accept their deaths.
"I knew Ghaliya for 40 years and she was a very respectful woman. She helped me raise all my children," says her neighbour Om Gouda.
When Om Gouda went out to work, Ghaliya looked after her children.
Ghaliya started feeling ill early in April, when she experienced a fever and shortness of breath.
She was immediately hospitalised, then she tested positive for the coronavirus.
While being transported to quarantine, she died.
On Apr. 7 people gathered to block her burial and on that same day, her son died.
Eventually, she was buried in her ancestral home where she and her husband grew up.
The son was buried by health authorities in a charity cemetery.
So, the family does not know where exactly his grave is.
"I am very sad because when this woman (Ghaliya) and her son died, people showed no mercy and would not let them be buried, for a full day," says Sally, another neighbour.
But the family's ordeal is not over and another one of Ghaliya's sons died from the virus.
At least 45 other family members have been infected.
They include pregnant women and children as young as three years old.
Police have cordoned off the two streets where the family lived, preventing some 2,000 residents from leaving for any reason.
When the quarantine period is over for the rest of Ghaliya's family member, a neighbour plans to hold a small celebration.
Sherif Wahid, who is planning the event, says he is doing it "to deny any rumours saying that they are not welcomed by their neighbour."
Egypt has confirmed 3,490 cases of the coronavirus and 264 deaths.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.
For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
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