The head of Egypt’s electoral commission, Lashin Ibrahim, on Friday died due to complications from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel Coronavirus, state media have reported.

Ibrahim, a senior judge, headed the National Election Authority since 2017, overseeing Egypt’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

He had tested positive for the virus 20 days ago, state-run portal al-Ahram Online reported.

Ibrahim was last seen in public on Dec. 14, when he announced the final results of Egypt’s legislative polls, state-run newspaper Akhbar al-Youm reported online.

The electoral commission has confirmed his death.

The heads of Egypt’s two houses of parliament mourned Ibrahim, who was also a deputy chief judge of Egypt’s top court, Akhbar al-Youm said.

Egypt has seen a spike invirus infections in recent weeks, prompting the government to ban New Year’s celebrations.

Health authorities on Thursday reported 1,021 new virus cases, Egypt’s highest recorded daily rate in months.

The country of more than 100 million people has registered so far a total of 128,993 cases, resulting in 7,260 deaths.(dpa / NAN)