Armed men attacked an army camp in Mali's north, killing at least 25 soldiers, the army said Tuesday.

"Yesterday, our camp in the town of Bamba in the Gao region was attacked" and six others were wounded, said army spokesman Col. Maj. Diarran Kone.

The army was in control of Bamba as of Tuesday, he added.

The attack has not been claimed but bore the mark of armed groups linked to al-Qaida or the Islamic State group that are present in the Gao region.

This is the second major attack since the beginning of the year against army positions in the Gao region. More than 30 soldiers were killed near the end of March in an attack on the village of Tarkint.

The attacks come at a time when the government has announced its intention to open dialogue with armed groups linked to al-Qaida.

At least 17 medics in Egypt's main cancer hospital have been quarantined after testing positive for the coronavirus, officials said Saturday, raising fears the pandemic could prey on health facilities in the Arab world's most populous country.

Egypt has reported around 1,000 confirmed cases and 66 fatalities from the global pandemic. Authorities have closed schools and mosques, banned public gatherings and imposed a nighttime curfew to prevent the virus from spreading among the population of 100 million, a fifth of whom live in the densely-populated capital, Cairo.

Dr. Hatem Abu el-Kassem, the director of the National Cancer Institute, said three doctors and 12 nurses tested positive for the virus. He said all other health workers at the facility, which is affiliated with Cairo University and treats hundreds of cancer patients every day, would be tested. The university later said a total of 17 health workers tested positive.

The institute will be partly closed for three days to be sterilized, with only the emergency ward remaining open.

Several doctors took to social media to criticize the institute's leadership for not taking restrictive measures earlier.

Maggie Mousa, an anesthesiologist at the institute, tweeted that one of her close friends was infected. She accused top officials of mismanagement and negligence for not imposing restrictions after the first case was detected more than a week ago.

"They refused to take any measures to protect her and isolate the institute," she said.

Cairo University said it has established a fact-finding mission to investigate the measures taken by the institute to prevent the virus from spreading.

The virus causes mild to moderate symptoms in most patients, who recover within a few weeks. But it is highly contagious and can cause severe illness or death, particularly in older patients or those with underlying health problems, including cancer patients.

As the number of infections has grown to more than 1.1 million worldwide, the exposure of personnel at health facilities is of growing concern.

More than a million people have been infected worldwide and more than 50,000 have died from the COVID-19 illness caused by the virus. More than 200,000 have recovered, according to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University.

Egypt's Health Ministry reported a spike in cases on Friday, with 120 new infections and eight fatalities, its highest one-day tally since the first case was reported in February.

The government has not yet imposed the kind of total lockdown seen in other countries in the region, but officials have said there are plans for stricter measures if needed.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said in a statement Saturday that many projects the government was planning to open this year would be postponed until 2021 because of the pandemic. They include the Grand Egyptian Museum that's been under construction for over a decade and intended to showcase Egypt's ancient treasures as well as the country's new administrative capital in the desert outside of Cairo.

The worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East is in Iran, where the Health Ministry on Saturday reported another 158 deaths. That brings the overall number of fatalities there to 3,452, amid 55,743 confirmed cases. Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said more than 4,000 patients are in serious condition.

Some African countries will have more than 10,000 coronavirus cases by the end of April, health officials projected Thursday, as the continent least equipped to treat serious infections has an "enormous gap" in the number of ventilators and other critical items.

While cases across Africa are now above 6,000 at what has been called the dawn of the outbreak, the continent is "very, very close" to where Europe was after a 40-day period, the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. John Nkengasong, told reporters.

The virus "is an existential threat to our continent," he said. All but five of Africa's 54 countries have cases, and local transmission has begun in many of those with the virus.

Nkengasong said authorities are "aggressively" looking into procuring equipment such as ventilators that most African countries desperately need, and local manufacturing and repurposing are being explored.

"We've seen a lot of goodwill expressed to supporting Africa from bilateral and multilateral partners," but "we still have to see that translate into concrete action," he said.

The World Health Organization doesn't know how many ventilators are available across Africa to help those in respiratory distress, regional director Dr. Matshidiso Moeti told reporters. "We are trying to find out this information from country-based colleagues. ... What we can say without a doubt is there is an enormous gap."

Some countries have only a few ventilators. Central African Republic has just three.

A small percentage of people who are infected will need ventilators and about 15% may need intensive care, said WHO official Dr. Zabulon Yoti.

The health officials pleaded for global solidarity at a time when even some of the world's richest countries are scrambling for basic medical needs, including face masks.

"Countries like Cameroon just reached out yesterday, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, asking, 'Look, we need tents because we're running out of hospital beds already,'" Nkengasong said.

Even if equipment is obtained, getting them to countries is a growing challenge with Africa's widespread travel restrictions, though countries have made exceptions for cargo or emergency humanitarian flights.

Simply gauging the number of coronavirus cases in Africa is a challenge, even in South Africa, the most developed country on the continent, where authorities have acknowledged a testing backlog.

Other countries suffer from the widespread shortage of testing kits or swabs, though 43 countries in the WHO Africa sub-Saharan region now have testing capability, up from two in early February.

As more African countries impose lockdowns, both the WHO and Africa CDC expressed concern for the millions of low-income people who need to go out daily to earn their living. That's a "huge challenge," Moeti said, noting that hundreds of thousands of children are now out of school as well.

It is too soon to tell how the lockdown in places like South Africa has affected the number of cases, she added.

The lockdowns are causing unease. Police herded several hundred homeless people into a stadium in South Africa's capital, Pretoria, where tents were erected for shelter and methadone was provided for many. There were complaints about the lack of sanitizer or soap.

The first sub-Saharan African nation to impose a lockdown, Rwanda, has now extended it by two weeks, a sign of what might be to come for other nations.

"Don't lock down the whole country," Nkengasong said. "Lock down cities or communities where there's extensive community transmission so .. social harm is minimized. But if infection is spreading across the entire country, you have no choice."

Health experts in Africa are rushing to understand whether factors such as Africa's youthful population — some 70% of the continent's people are under age 30 — will be a benefit in fighting off the virus and how the widespread problems of malnutrition, HIV, tuberculosis and malaria might affect people's ability to fight off infection.

"Our greatest fear" is that programs tackling those perennial issues will be sapped by the current crisis, Nkengasong said. "The time to advocate for those programs is not when COVID is over. The time is now."

Dr. Meredith McMorrow, Medical Officer in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's influenza division, acknowledged to reporters that the U.S. is "suffering right now" and that limits the U.S. ability to respond with overseas aid. But she said the U.S. is helping African nations procure overseas equipment "as rapidly as possible."

The latest African nation to report its first virus death was Zambia.

Some African countries will have more than 10,000 coronavirus cases by the end of April, health officials projected Thursday, as the continent least equipped to treat serious infections has an "enormous gap" in the number of ventilators and other critical items.

Coronavirus cases in some African countries will begin to pass the 10,000 mark by the end of April, health officials said Thursday, as the continent least equipped to treat serious cases has an "enormous gap" in the number of ventilators and other critical items.

While cases across Africa are now above 6,000 at what has been called the dawn of the outbreak, the continent is "very, very close" to where Europe was after a 40-day period, the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. John Nkengasong, told reporters.

The virus "is an existential threat to our continent," he said. Local transmission has begun in many countries. Just five of Africa's 54 nations have not reported cases, but Nkengasong said it's just a matter of time until they get the virus.

He said authorities are "aggressively" looking into procuring equipment such as ventilators that most African countries desperately need, and local manufacturing and re-purposing are being explored.

"We've seen a lot of goodwill expressed to supporting Africa from bilateral and multilateral partners," but "we still have to see that translate into concrete action," he said.

The World Health Organization doesn't know how many ventilators are available across Africa to help those in respiratory distress, regional director Dr. Matshidiso Moeti told reporters. "We are trying to find out this information from country-based colleagues. ... What we can say without a doubt is there is an enormous gap."

Some countries have only a few ventilators. Central African Republic has just three.

A small percentage of people who are infected will need ventilators and about 15% may need intensive care, said WHO official Dr. Zabulon Yoti.

The health officials pleaded for global solidarity at a time when even some of the world's richest countries are scrambling for basic medical needs, including face masks.

"Countries like Cameroon just reached out yesterday, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, asking, 'Look, we need tents because we're running out of hospital beds already,'" Nkengasong said.

Even if equipment is obtained, getting them to countries is a growing challenge with Africa's widespread travel restrictions, though countries have made exceptions for cargo or emergency humanitarian flights.

Simply gauging the number of coronavirus cases in Africa is a challenge, even in South Africa, the most developed country on the continent, where authorities have acknowledged a testing backlog.

Other countries suffer from the widespread shortage of testing kits or swabs, though 43 countries in the WHO Africa sub-Saharan region now have testing capability, up from two in early February.

As more African countries impose lockdowns, both the WHO and Africa CDC expressed concern for the millions of low-income people who need to go out daily to earn their living. That's a "huge challenge," Moeti said, noting that hundreds of thousands of children are now out of school as well.

It is too soon to tell how the lockdown in places like South Africa has affected the number of cases, she added.

"Don't lock down the whole country," Nkengasong said. "Lock down cities or communities where there's extensive community transmission so .. social harm is minimized. But if infection is spreading across the entire country, you have no choice."

Health experts in Africa are rushing to understand whether factors such as Africa's youthful population — some 70% of the continent's people are under age 30 — will be a benefit in fighting off the virus and how the widespread problems of malnutrition, HIV, tuberculosis and malaria might affect people's ability to fight off infection.

"Our greatest fear" is that programs tackling those perennial issues will be sapped by the current crisis, Nkengasong said. "The time to advocate for those programs is not when COVID is over. The time is now."

Dr. Meredith McMorrow, Medical Officer in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's influenza division, acknowledged to reporters that the U.S. is "suffering right now" and that limits the U.S. ability to respond with overseas aid. But she said the U.S. is helping African nations procure overseas equipment "as rapidly as possible."

The latest African nation to report its first virus death was Zambia.

A shaken South Africa on Friday announced its first two deaths from the coronavirus as the country's cases rose above 1,000 and a three-week lockdown began, with some police screaming at the homeless on emptying streets.

The health minister said the deaths occurred in Western Cape province, home of Cape Town. South Africa has the most virus cases in Africa, with the total across the continent now above 3,200.

Security forces with megaphones screamed at people shortly after midnight in downtown Johannesburg, the country's commercial hub. Homeless people scattered, looking for places to shelter, to the astonishment of residents who lined up on balconies and filmed the patrols with their mobile phones. One baton-wielding officer took chase.

Some motorists were pursued, stopped and searched. "Go home," security forces shouted. "You cannot be outside ... You are so selfish." Around 3 a.m., sustained gunfire echoed through the streets.

South Africa's military helped to enforce measures that include bans on sales of cigarettes and alcohol, even dog-walking. After daybreak, police and military forces again surrounded a few dozen homeless people in downtown Johannesburg close to the main train station.

The risk of abuses was a concern. In Rwanda, which imposed a lockdown over the weekend, police have denied that two people shot dead on Monday were killed for defying the new measures.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, in full military uniform, on the eve of the lockdown told troops to be a "force of kindness" and reminded police that "our people are terrified right now and we should not do anything to make their situation worse."

People are meant to go outside only to obtain essentials such as groceries or medical care or to provide essential services. Public transport operates only during the usual rush hours, but complaints were reported of being charged double the price.

"We are putting our lives at risk," one commuting worker, Simphiwe Radebe, told The Associated Press, saying they had little choice. "Please pray for us that are still working." Minibus taxis were sprayed with disinfectant before passengers boarded, leaving spaces between them, some wiping their hands.

Some shoppers ignored calls to keep at least a meter apart, jostling, as about 200 lined up outside a center in Vosloorus, a township east of Johannesburg.

Some people were openly scared. One caller to a popular morning radio talk show dissolved into tears: "I feel there's nothing we can do," he said.

Anxiety has been especially high among low-income South Africans squeezed into crowded townships with limited water supplies, sometimes with an extended family sharing a shack of corrugated metal and little income. Fears of an increase in domestic violence and rape have been expressed by civil society groups.

Economic pain is widespread, with the country already in recession and unemployment at 29%.

In Africa's largest city, Nigeria's Lagos, traders also worried after nonessential markets were shut down and the country's cases rose to 65. "If we do not go out, we cannot eat, our government did not make any provision for us," Bolaji Tajudeen said.

Elsewhere in Africa, the United Nations mission in Somalia said a contractor had the virus, bringing cases in that fragile country to three. Somalia's health ministry said the person was in the international compound at the Mogadishu airport, where many diplomats and aid workers are based.

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.

More lockdowns are expected. Twenty-four of Africa's 54 countries already have fully closed borders, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"It is a literally a matter of life and death," Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi said Friday, urging citizens to stay home. The country is just one of eight in Africa without a confirmed case. "Our actions will determine whether we survive this pandemic or not."