Prime Minster affirms Egypt clear of coronavirus

CAIRO - 28 February 2020: Egypt's Prime minster Moustafa Madbouly affirmed that the government is not hiding any updates regarding coronavirus, and that they are dealing with the crises with "transparency."

During a Cabinet meeting on Thursday morning, Madbouly discussed all of the precaution measures taken by health ministry in cooperation with World Health Organization (WHO).

Madbouly affirmed that the government is Keen on following up with all of the updates regarding coronavirus in the world and especially that many cases were announced in a nearby countries within the MENA region.

"We will not be hiding anything regarding the new emerging virus" Madbouly said.
Health ministry also announced that the Chinese person who was diagnosed with coronavirus earlier on February will be released from quarantine on Friday, February 28.

The Chinese national who was announced that he has shown no symptoms has completed 14 days in quarantine and that all laboratory tests that were done for him during the past period resulted were "negative". "He is no longer a source of infection or carrier of any virus." the ministry affirmed.

On February 16, Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed said the only coronavirus case recorded in Egypt has shown no symptoms, and all those who dealt with him tested negative for the deadly virus but will be monitored for 15 days.

While the new virus, which emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, had stayed away from Africa, Egyptian Health Ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on February 14, the country’s first case, a Chinese national who local authorities later said was moved to Matrouh governorate, in the northwestern part of the country, to be placed under quarantine.

China is transparently, responsibly and openly cooperating with the international community, including Egypt, concerning coronavirus, spokesman of the Chinese embassy in Egypt said.

The spokesman stressed that the bilateral cooperation with Egypt to remain in an attempt to protect the public health.

The embassy’s statement came shortly after Egypt's Health Ministry announcement regarding the first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus in Africa.