The Confederation of African Football (CAF) considered Egypt as withdrawn from the tournament after 17 covid-19 cases were discovered among the squad before their opener against Lybia.
They needed to have 11 starting players and four substitutes in order to take part in the game, but couldn’t meet the number and were therefore withdrawn from the game and the tournament as a whole.
They then had a glimmer of hope when in the following swab test only 14 cases were found and by calling up to additional players from Cairo felt that they could complete the team before their Friday encounter against Tunisia.
READ: Egypt U-20 still hopeful they can compete in AFCON qualifiers
However, bad news struck again when on Thursday afternoon Mahmoud Saber Ahmed Nabil ‘Koka’ tested positive. The Young Pharaohs only need one more player to be eligible to play against their North African rivals.
Egypt currently sit bottom of the group, as their game was counted as a 3-0 loss, while Tunisia and Algeria sit second and third respectively with equal points after their 1-1 draw.
The only remaining country is Morocco, who are yet to play a game and will come up against their neighbors Algeria.