Egyptian journalist Youssef El-Husseiny has come under fire for endangering his colleagues after announcing live on air that he had contracted the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus.
Husseiny made the announcement while presenting the ‘Nine O’Clock’ programme on Egypt’s Channel One.
“I am infected with Omicron," Husseiny can be heard saying in clips of the show posted to social media. "I am exhausted and ill and my condition is terrible”.
“Don’t be concerned, this is not a crisis," Husseiny told viewers, his voice hoarse. "The real crisis is that I wasn’t able to be on air yesterday.”
“I came to work today because we are commemorating Wael el-Ebrashy, who started hosting this [Nine O’Clock] show.”
Ebrashy was a prominent Egyptian journalist and talk-show host who died due to Covid-19 complications earlier this month.
Husseiny's comments drew widespread criticism from social media users, who called him "irresponsible" and "careless" towards his colleagues and called on him to apologise.
Mona El-Hadidi, a Supreme Council for Media Regulation member, denounced el-Husseini's "irresponsible" and "unprofessional" actions, saying media professionals should "set an example in following precautionary measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19".
El-Husseiny was "obviously ill and exhausted" and could have postponed the episode or conducted the broadcast via Zoom, el-Hadidi said.
Husseiny later retracted his on-air announcement, saying he had not contracted Covid but "a bad case of the common cold".
Egypt has seen a surge in Covid cases since the start of the year, induced by the Omicron variant.
Egypt has also banned unvaccinated citizens from accessing government facilities and unvaccinated students from entering universities in an effort to curb virus infections.