Reports

Reverse decision: Egypt reduces curfew hours despite increase in corona infections

Minister of State for Information Osama Heikal has said that the cabinet decided to reduce the partial curfew for an additional hour, to start at 8pm and to end at 5am, instead of 6am, as of Sunday. Heikal added, in a press conference at the ministry’s headquarters, that a phone number will be allocated in each governorate to inquire about coronavirus infections, while increasing the number of health units designated to follow up on the infected.

There has been an agreement with the Ministry of Health since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, to set a daily appointment to announce infection, death, and recovery from infection. He claimed that “the current period is witnessing the spread of rumours, and some people are falsifying the ministry’s daily statement, while it is not in our interest as a country to hide the casualty figures.” “We are currently living in a crisis that affects the whole of humanity, and the aim of the media should be to save humanity from the pandemic and to reduce infections as much as possible, and whoever tries to exploit the epidemic, he is a person stripped of humanity,” Heikal continued. He claimed that his country’s provision of medical assistance to some countries, such as China, Italy, and the United States, is “a symbolic expression of support for these countries. There are some countries that supported Egypt during the coronavirus crisis, which is symbolic and political in the first place and aims to maintain international relations.”

Egypt is witnessing acceleration in the frequency of the corona epidemic infection during the last week, and the number of deaths has approached 1,000. On Sunday, the Egyptian Ministry of Health announced the registration of 1,536 new cases of coronavirus, in addition to 46 deaths, which is the highest number of daily infections and deaths in the country since the emergence of the coronavirus. These figures are the highest in a series of successive increases in the number of injuries and deaths in Egypt, which has caused alarm that there will be a widespread outbreak of the virus in all governorates of Egypt.

Preventing doctors from vacations

In the same context, the Egyptian Minister of Health Hala Zayed stressed on Sunday that the ministry sectors have not granted sick leave or holidays to doctors, and assigned old and new fellowship doctors to work in isolation and quarantine hospitals. The ministry directed all health sectors to make a complete inventory of doctors, nurses and other specialties, and warned against immediate accountability for any failure in the work, with the opening for contracting with doctors from inside or outside the ministry to work in the quarantine hospitals with corona patients. Zayed pointed out that isolation in the coming period will be limited to homes for those with mild symptoms.

Zayed claimed that the ministry is keen to respond to the needs and demands of doctors and medical staff in general, and to provide them with the necessary protection and support, and to upgrade the health system by providing training opportunities, and establishing a fund for occupational risks. She added during a meeting with President of the Doctors’ Syndicate, Hussein Khairy, that a study is underway to raise the pension age for doctors to 62 years, and to develop implementation mechanisms in coordination with the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Finance. She added that the ministry is responsible for conducting analyses by means of rapid reagents on a regular basis for doctors and medical teams, whether upon entering the hospital to start their work, or upon their discharge from the hospital after the end of their work, in addition to conducting PCR tests for those who show symptoms of the disease while performing his work.