State institutions take part in Egyptian strategy to fight coronavirus

CAIRO – 15 March 2020: As President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday ordered allocating billions for the national plan to combat coronavirus, the state authorities and institutions made announcements to help make the plan a success.

Sisi, in a meeting with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli, ordered a temporary closure of schools and universities, to help curb the spread of the novel disease.

The Coptic Orthodox Chair announced suspending the services it provides, including nurseries, trips and rehabilitation centers, in an effort to limit large gatherings.

As educational gatherings have been the focus of many states, Madbouli ordered closing the private educational centers. Immediately, Major General Ahmed Abdel Fattah, head of the Dokki district, Giza, led a campaign to close such centers in the district in coordination with the police.

The campaign closed 16 educational centers as for Saturday.

Concerning universities, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said classes at universities would be suspended as health of students is a “top priority”.

In an interview with Al-Hekaya on MBC Masr, Abdel Ghaffar said the content of the daily lectures will be uploaded on social media or the YouTube in a simplified form.

Also, the French Cultural Center in Egypt closed all its branches in Munira, El Sheikh Zayed, Heliopolis, New Cairo and Alexandria starting Sunday.

The Instituto Cervantes, aka the Spanish Cultural Center, announced a two-week closure, saying it would allow current students in the center to follow their courses online, under the supervision of their instructors.

Cairo University took advantage of this temporary closure. University head Mohamed Al-Khosht, in an interview with Egypt Today, said the hostels will be filly sterilized, as part of precautionary measures.

Khosht added that the university has a comprehensive plan to proceed with the educational curricula online during the 15-year suspension.

Concerning sporting clubs, Youth Minister Ashraf Sobhy said the ministry has decided to ban gatherings in clubs and championships, as well as to prevent fans from attending matches.

Sobhi announced suspending sports trainings for two weeks, but said the clubs will remain open.

For religious affairs, the Ministry of Endowments (Al-Awqaf) in a statement said activities in the mosques will only be limited to the five daily prayers and Friday prayers.

The ministry also announced temporarily closing the holy shrines.

The number of coronavirus cases in Egypt reached 110, according to the Health Ministry.

As per a presidential decree, President Sisi on Saturday allocated LE 100 billion ($6.4 billion), to fund the anti-coronavirus strategy and its related precautionary measures.

On March 9, 2020, Egypt’s government banned all large community events and gatherings until further notice to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Coronavirus disease has forced many countries to suspend their flights around the globe after the infected cases reached around 146,000 people and over 5,440 deaths were reported so far. Five days ago, the virus was announced a global pandemic by the World Health Organization.

“WHO is deeply concerned by the alarming levels of the coronavirus spread, severity & inaction, & expects to see the number of cases, deaths & affected countries climb even higher. Therefore, we made the assessment that COVID19 can be characterized as a pandemic,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced in a press conference.