Egypt’s coronavirus peak expected after 2 weeks: Presidential advisor

CAIRO – 28 May 2020: A Presidential advisor said Egypt will see a peak of coronavirus infections after two weeks, although a hypothetical model reviewed by the Minister of Scientific Research earlier suggests Egypt may start to record lower number of cases starting June 7th.

During the International Virtual Conference of Tanta University on Wednesday, Presidential Advisor for Health Affairs Mohamed Tag El-Din urged all institutions to cooperate in the face of the novel COVID-19 virus.

The conference which extends on Thursday is dubbed “Scientific Research Confronting COVID-19 and Future of the World after this Pandemic”.

Earlier in May, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said Egypt’s coronavirus cases are expected to reach around 20,000 by May 28th and to start recording lower number of cases starting June 7th.

In his speech during the inauguration of a developmental project in northern Egypt’s Alexandria attended by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Abdel Ghaffar said the number of new coronavirus cases can decrease to reach zero after July 17th, after reaching around 37,000 cases.

According to a hypothetical model the ministry adopts, which multiplies the counts by five, the actual number of cases in Egypt would be around 71,000 not 14,000, Abdel Ghaffar said, adding that no state can reach all the infected the cases especially that 80 percent of them show no symptoms. By Wednesday, the northeastern African country has recorded almost 20,000 cases, according to the official figures.

The death rate due to coronavirus in Egypt is undoubtedly 4.8 percent, he added.

The Egyptian Health Ministry in its daily briefing on Wednesday said 910 people have tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) in Egypt over the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 19,666.

The ministry also reported 19 deaths due to the novel virus, upping the total number to 816.

Also, the test results of 5,798 people turned from positive to negative, the ministry said, including 5,205 people who totally recovered. It added that 178 patients left hospitals.