In Pics: Infection of pizza shop’s worker leaves Egyptian village in isolation

CAIRO – 1 April 2020: A state of fear overwhelmed the residents of El-Hayatem Village in Gharbiya governorate, northern Egypt, after eight cases tested positive to Covid-19, including a worker who contacted more than 100 persons in the village.

The infection happened after a worker at a pizza restaurant in the village went to the airport to pick up his relative, who was coming from Saudi Arabia before the flight suspension decision. The worker then attended a meeting with the heads of the famous restaurant's branches, when he felt the symptoms.

The worker then addressed the doctors at his village; however, no one discovered his infection. He then contacted members of his family and residents at one of the funerals he attended, which caused the spread of the virus among seven of his family members. When the symptoms intensified and he could not handle them, he headed to the chest hospital in his city, and was then isolated as per the instructions of the physicians who confirmed his infection.

The worker’s mother, and father were among those infected with the virus in his family, in addition to two workers at the restaurant, who also tested positive and were then isolated.

The monitoring teams of the health directorate went to the village, and an enlarged campaign carried out a comprehensive cleansing of the village over the past days.

The monitoring teams tracked 47 people who contacted the infected people, and took samples from them to confirm whether they were infected.

As part of the measures taken in the isolated village, 10 giant vehicles were deployed to cleanse the village streets with disinfectants; convoys toured to provide foodstuff, flour and 1,000 cartons of food supplies; speakers warned families not to leave their homes, or they will face legal accountability and health doctors are warned to close laboratories at 5 p.m.

Employees at governmental facilities are banned to enter or leave the village to prevent the spread of the virus.



Infection of pizza shop’s worker leaves Egyptian village in isolation - Egypt Today


Infection of pizza shop’s worker leaves Egyptian village in isolation - Egypt Today