Egypt sends medical supplies to China to help face coronavirus spread

CAIRO – 31 January 2020: Egypt’s Health Minister Hala Zayed on Thursday announced sending 10 tons of medical supplies to China, to help prevent the spread of the new deadly coronavirus, affirming that the Egyptian state would provide support to the Chinese people in Egypt.

The meeting chaired by Zayed with the participation of the representatives of ministries and security authorities was held to discuss the implementation of a medical strategy to receive the Egyptian citizens coming from China, the birthplace of the coronavirus that emerged in December last year, killing dozens of people.

On Friday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry denied reports claiming that coronavirus cases were detected among the Egyptian community in China, the Cabinet media office reported.

The Foreign Ministry added that the Egyptian embassy is directly communicating with Egyptian expatriates in China's Wuhan city in Hubei province, where the virus emerged, to follow up their health conditions and offer them needed help after the decision of the Chinese authorities to impose a quarantine on Wuhan.

The Cabinet also denied news circulated on social media claiming that the Health Ministry has launched campaigns to inspect and close Chinese restaurants in the country over the outbreak of the deadly virus.

The Cabinet media center said it contacted the Ministry of Health, which dismissed the reports, asserting that all Chinese restaurants in Egypt are working normally.

The ministry added that its bodies carry out constant and periodic campaigns to inspect food facilities nationwide to make sure they meet the required health conditions.

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MENA contributed to the reporting.