Health Min. allocates building for testing people coming from Wuhan

CAIRO - 5 February 2020: The Ministry of Health has allocated a special building in al-Negila hospital in MarsaMatrouh governorate to test the people coming from the Chinese city of Wuhan for coronavirus.

The Health Ministry’s statement reported that the ministry will follow up people suffering from any diseases and provide them with treatment.

The statement also notedthat Health Minister Hala Zayed receives an hourly report from the hospital to follow the situation of Egyptians coming from China.

The ministry’s statement asserted that no cases of the new coronavirus have been recorded in Egypt, adding that it is ready to take all the precautionary measures to prevent the deadly virus from entering the country.

On Feb. 4, Zayed said in a phone call on Sada al-Balad channel that the cost of medical equipment necessary to receive Egyptians in Marsa Matrouh governorate from the Chinese city of Wuhan sums up to $65 million.

The minister added that those Egyptians will be quarantined for 14 days to make sure that they don't carry the coronavirus. She also said that the hospital has 59 ICU beds, and 59 artificial respiration units.

Zayed confirmed that President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi ordered the provision of the highest medical care for the returning Egyptians without regard to cost.

"The plane returned on Monday at 1 p.m. carrying more than 300 Egyptians; the quarantine rooms are fully equipped," Civil Aviation Minister Mohamed Manar told Extra News channel on Sunday, Feb.2.

The plane crew was trained to deal with the passengers and was given appropriate clothes for the task. "Six doctors accompanied them on board during the trip," he added.

Manar pointed out that quarantine doctors were dispatched to all airports to deal with passengers who had passed through countries that reported cases of infection with coronavirus.

In January, Ambassador Liao Liqiang said that no cases were reported inthe Chinese community in Egypt, and that the Chinese tourists will be leaving Egypt in five days. He added that no cases were detected amongst the Egyptian students in China.

Spokesperson of the Health Ministry Khaled Mugahed also said no coronavirus patients have been recorded in Egypt.

The Ministry of Health launched campaigns in seven governorates in Egypt to check Chinese restaurants and to activate means of health control in conjunction with the panic that is sweeping the world from the coronavirus.