International Labor Organization lauds Egypt's efforts to counter COVID-19

CAIRO – 29 April 2020: The International Labor Organization (ILO) Cairo Office has hailed Egypt's efforts to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic under the directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

Egypt has introduced pillars related to the vocational safety and health that have been recommended by the ILO to curb the spread of coronaviarus, including many preemptive measures, Director of the ILO Cairo Office Eric Oechslin said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Egypt also took many precautionary measures to protect the health and safety of people working in sectors that continue working normally with the aim of controlling the spread of COVID-19,” he added.

The statement coincides with the World Day for Safety and Health at Work which falls on April 28.

This year's celebration comes amid the outbreak of COVID-19 around the world, representing an opportunity to shed light on the role of the occupational safety and health management systems in enhancing measures of protection to limit the risk of infection among workers including children.

“The World Day for Safety and Health at Work will be marked differently this year in a way that help create a safe working environment,” he said.

The Egyptian government has taken eight decisive measures since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, which included many proactive measures such as:

- Reducing the number of government employees in their workplaces as a preventive measure.
- Allowing certain jobs to be done online.
- Activating rotational work shifts across sectors.
- Giving mothers exceptional and paid leave.
- Pregnant women or those with children under 12 years of age are granted exceptional leave.
- Any employee returning from abroad is granted an exceptional leave of two weeks.
- All employees are prohibited from attending any training or workshops.
- Any employee with a medical condition is granted an exceptional leave.