Precautionary measures taken at trains, metro against coronavirus

CAIRO – 30 January 2020: Minister of Transport Kamel el-Wazir instructed officials at Railways and Metro authorities to take precautionary measures against novel Coronavirus (ncov-2019).

The minister’s instructions stress on the importance of maintaining clean vehicles before each trip, because unclean environment contributes to the disease's spread.

Around 3.5 million Cairenes use the metro every day. The railway system is also inundated with travelers on a daily basis, which makes hygiene procedures a priority amid threats of the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The Ministry of Health announced a plan that includes measures like: Issuing medical cards to all travelers coming from China or a country that was affected by the virus, where the cards include details about the travelers to be monitored for 14 days from their arrival. Any suspected cases will be immediately isolated.

The ministry’s plan also includes allocating isolation departments at fever hospitals, and activating procedures to monitor acute respiratory diseases, raise awareness, and follow up the global epidemiological situation around the clock.

The Chinese health authorities announced Wednesday that 5,974 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus had been reported in 31 provincial-level regions, and a total of 132 people have died of the disease thus far.

Minister of Health Hala Zayed confirmed that Egypt is free from the new virus, and declared a state of emergency in quarantines at all the state’s air, maritime and ground outlets as a protection against the outbreak of the new coronavirus.

Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Hafez negated on Tuesday the death of an Egyptian citizen in Wuhan, the Chinese city where coronavirus has spread.

Chinese Ambassador to Cairo Liao Liqiang also stated that no coronavirus has been detected among the Chinese community in Egypt, and that the Chinese tourists will be leaving Egypt in five days.

The Association of Egyptian Travel Agencies banned tourism flights from and to China until further notice as a precaution after the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus.