Egypt’s president, health affairs advisor review preparations for possible 2nd wave of coronavirus

CAIRO – 13 September 2020: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi reviewed with Mohamed Tag El Din, his advisor for health affairs, current state’s efforts to deal with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and preparations for a potential second wave, as they met on Saturday.

This comes as the daily number of new coronavirus cases since early last month dropped below 200, except for the last week in August, registering a record drop in daily reported cases on August 22 with only 89 new infections, the lowest daily tally since April.

During the meeting, Sisi has urged coordination among relevant state bodies to benefit from the country’s experience in dealing with the pandemic since it has started, in order to be able to take required precautionary measures to deal with a potential second wave, including intensifying awareness campaigns with the advent of the new school year, the Presidency said in a statement.

Sisi urges ensuring health safety of students ahead of new school year

CAIRO - 2 September 2020: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Wednesday directed that all necessary measures be taken, in coordination between the Ministry of Health and the various bodies, to provide the highest possible levels of insurance for students and those in the educational system, to ensure their safety and the regularity of the academic process.

Tag El Din also reviewed with the President the rates of infection and recovery across the North African country as well as the state's successful efforts amid the pandemic, including developing hospitals, establishing mobile clinics, applying measures for isolation and coexistence, providing the necessary lab tests and updating the treatment protocol, in addition to national research efforts to develop a vaccine for the virus.

The Egyptian Health Ministry said late on Saturday that 148 new coronavirus cases and 20 deaths due to the novel virus were reported, raising the total number since the beginning of the outbreak in the country  to 100,856 and 5,627 respectively.

As many as 788 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the number of recovered cases to 83,261 so far, the spokesman said.

Despite the decline, Egyptian officials have repeatedly urged caution to avoid a second wave of the pandemic, particularly with the advent of autumn and the beginning of the academic year.

Egypt reported the first confirmed case of the novel virus on February 14, while the first fatality was recorded on March 8.