Daily report: 387 people test positive for coronavirus in Egypt

CAIRO – 6 May 2020: 387 people in Egypt tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) recently, making one of the highest daily counts in Egypt, and 17 people died with the novel virus, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

This brings the total number of reported cases and deaths to 7,588 and 469 respectively, the ministry said.

The test results of 2,314 people of the reported cases turned from positive to negative, including 1,815 people who fully recovered.

Also, 85 cases, all of them Egyptians, left hospital after they recovered, according to the instructions of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Clinical trials
Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel Ghaffar referred to the efforts of Egyptian universities and research centers in carrying out most of the clinical trials in Africa, with 22 clinical trials out of 30 experiments conducted by African countries.

According to the clinical trials website, the minister announced that Egypt ranks first among Middle Eastern and African countries carrying out experiments to find a cure for the emerging coronavirus "Covid-19".

Abdel Ghaffar stressed that Egypt has conducted half of the experiments carried out by countries in the Middle East to find a medicine that resists the emerging coronavirus; the Middle Eastern countries have carried out 44 experiments since the outbreak of the virus in China.

He pointed out that Egypt comes at the forefront, followed by Iran, Israel, Turkey, Cyprus, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.

Plasma treatment

The Egyptian Health Ministry will start injecting plasma of patients who have recovered from the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) into severely ill patients with the novel virus, the ministry quoted Minister Hala Zayed as saying late in April.

Plasma from recovered cases have the antibodies required to battle the virus inside other patients and curb its replication.

Zayed said that Egypt has the required experience in the convalescent plasma therapy and that the ministry is working hard through scientific research to find treatment for coronavirus patients.

Plasma were extracted from six people who have recovered from coronavirus, the ministry’s statement revealed, and tests indicated that three of them were good to use.

Plasma was already injected into one patient, the ministry said, adding that other patients will also undergo the same treatment, in accordance with the research protocol in this regard. The results will be continuously announced, said the statement.

Once patients respond to treatment, convalescent plasma therapy will be widely applied, through inviting recovered people to donate plasma, in order to help save patients who are in critical condition, the ministry added.