The management of Cairo's Citystars mega mall denied on Saturday rumours circulated on social media about the appearance of a coronavirus case at the mall.

"We deny [the rumour] and we confirm that the mall is operating normally," the management said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

A day earlier, screenshots of text messages on WhatsApp, attributed to a doctor, went viral on social media platforms as the messages claimed that "a Chinese girl" who works at one of the companies at Citystars was confirmed to be infected with coronavirus.

In addition to denying what was stated in these messages, the Citystars management stressed that it "will be the first to announce the truth for the safety of our visitors and employees," and asked social media users "not to share rumours and wrong information."

Also on Friday, Egypt's health ministry and the World Health Organisation issued a joint statement reporting the first confirmed case of coronavirus was detected in Egypt, adding that the infected person was a foreigner, without providing further details.

"The person tested positive for the quick-spreading virus but had no symptoms so far," said the health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed.

The detection of the case was due to "the measures taken by the ministry that includes an electronic programme to register and follow up on those who arrive in Egypt from countries inflicted with the virus and through teams that monitor them daily."

The viral virus first surfaced in December in Wuhan, China, and has since spread to many other countries around the world.

According to the Chinese National Health Commission, the death toll rose to 1,523 on Friday, with most of the new deaths in central Hubei province, in particular the provincial capital of Wuhan.

The total confirmed infections across China now stand at 66,492 after 2,641 new cases were confirmed, the National Health Commission said.

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