Mohamed Salah Liverpool 2020-21Getty

Liverpool star Salah has 'mild' coronavirus symptoms, confirms Egypt doctor

Liverpool star Mohamed Salah is suffering from "mild" Covid-19 symptoms, Egypt's team doctor Mohamed Abou Elela has confirmed. 

Salah returned a positive test on Friday, ruling him out of his nation's Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Togo on Saturday - which Egypt managed to win 1-0. 

While a number of Premier League stars have tested positive for the coronavirus, the majority have been asymptomatic, with Salah unfortunately dealing with some minor symptoms of the illness. 

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“He’s a mild case - he doesn’t have severe symptoms,” Abou Elela told the Associated Press. “He has to self-isolate in Egypt until his test returns negative and then, of course, he can travel back.

“The concerns from the Egyptian authorities are because Mo for Egypt is special. Everyone here wants to help and ... to do whatever the whole country can do."

Asked if Salah likely caught the virus while attending his brother's wedding in Cairo earlier that week, Abou Elela added: “I cannot deny. No one knows because ... unfortunately, we still don’t know everything about the virus. My answer is maybe yes, maybe no."

Egypt has had over 110,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 to date and suffered over 6000 deaths. The United Kingdom has, however, fared much worse with over 1,300,000 cases and 51,000 deaths. 

Salah's recent attendance at his brother's wedding had come under scrutiny with images shared online suggesting he broke coronavirus guidelines, but local mayor Maher Shtayyeh has leapt to the Liverpool star's defence

"All what has been said is false, it does not make sense to hug someone five times in the same wedding,” Shtayyeh told Goal.

“Also Salah was extremely cautious during the one-hour wedding, he never took his mask off except for taking photographs. Salah is fine now, he does not show any symptoms, I talked to his father and uncle.

“Trezeguet was the only player who came to the wedding with Salah, he was also extremely cautious."

Egypt next face Togo again on Tuesday with the side currently on a five-match unbeaten run and top of their Africa Cup of Nations qualification group. 

Salah must now spend the next week in self-isolation and will likely miss Liverpool's next Premier League match against Leicester City on November 22. 

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