Sanaa Shafea Suffers Sudden Health Crisis

Veteran actor Sanaa Shafea was hospitalized Thursday evening after suffering from a sudden health crisis.

Dr. Medhat Al-Kashif, Dean of the Higher Institute of Performing Arts, stated that Shafea will undergo today, Friday some tests and x-rays to check and learn the cause of his illness, as well as to know whether if he was infection with coronavirus.

The novel coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan, China, and has infected more than one million people and killed over 234,139 worldwide. It also hit several celebrities and top political figures around the world.

The virus is a new member of the Coronaviruses group, which was never identified in humans. The viruses’ family also includes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV), which cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases.

Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. Humans and animals such as mammals and birds can be affected by the disease.

The name coronavirus is derived from the Latin corona, meaning “crown” or “halo”.

On February 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the official name for the disease caused by the new coronavirus is Covid-19, taken from the words “corona”, “virus” and “disease”.

In December 2019, an outbreak was reported in Wuhan, China. On 31 December 2019, the outbreak was traced to a novel strain of coronavirus, which was given the interim name 2019-nCoV by the World Health Organization (WHO), it was later renamed SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.

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On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus a global pandemic as the new virus has rapidly spread to more than 800,000 people from Asia to the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.

Transmission of viruses between humans happens when someone comes into contact with an infected person’s secretions, such as droplets in a cough.

Coronavirus can also be transmitted by coming into contact with something an infected person has touched and then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes.

It is known that older people appear to be more vulnerable to the effects of the emerging virus.

The virus caused complete paralysis in all activities and events with large gatherings worldwide due to concerns over the spread of the virus.

People across the globe partake in self-isolation for 14 days as an effective precautionary measure to protect those around them and themselves from contracting COVID-19.

On the other hand, actor Ehab Fahmy, a member of the Actors' Syndicate board, provided another update about the actor’s current health.

He revealed that Shafea's health is largely stable and will undergo a medical check-up before being discharged tomorrow, Saturday.

Shafea’s latest artistic work is TV series “Layalina 80”, which premiered last Ramadan.

It also stars Ghada Adel, Eyad Nassar, Sabreen, Mohamad Adel, Mohamed Al-Shaqnairi, Noha Abdin, Mohammed Aly Rizk, Hagar Al Sharnouby, and others.

Layalina 80 is written by Ahmed Abdel Fattah, directed by Ahmed Saleh, and produced by Synergy production company.

It is worth mentioning that Shafea, born on January 25, 1943, is an Egyptian actor, theater director, and professor.

He was born in the village of Mocha in Assiut Governorate in Upper Egypt. He moved to Cairo with his father, who was a scholar of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, after 8 years.

Shafea discovered his passion for art and joined the amateur teams on Emad Eddin Street until he went through the academic studies to graduate from the Higher Institute of Performing Arts, and later on worked as a teacher and became the dean of the Institute.

Along with his academic career, he also starred and directed dozens of television, cinema, and theater productions.

Shafea starred in over 140 artistic productions.