Sisi’s anti-COVID directives aim at reducing crowding, not shifting to online studying: Health Ministry Spox

CAIRO – 20 January 2022: Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said that the current anti-COVID-19 directives from the president are to reduce crowding in public spaces, not to shift studying to online.

He explained that the presidential directives to reduce densities especially in universities, government departments and others, aimed at reducing crowding to avoid the spread of the Coronavirus, especially with crowding being the most common means of transmission of infection among people.

He added, in a phone call with a TV show, that social distancing significantly reduces the number of infections within the country, stressing that adherence to precautionary measures is the best way to combat the virus.  

The Health Ministry said it has reported 1,379 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, upping the total number of confirmed cases reported in Egypt since the beginning of the outbreak to 403,990.

In a statement, Spokesman for the Health Ministry Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said 33 patients have died from the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 22,238.

As many as 1,599 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the number of recovered cases to 337,627 so far, the spokesman said.

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has ordered enhancing awareness programs concerning precautionary measures to face coronavirus and continuing vaccination campaigns for the targeted groups.