Egypt’s Sisi, France’s Macron discuss cooperation to fight coronavirus

CAIRO – 5 April 2020: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi made a phone call with his French counterpart, President Emmanuel Macron, where they discussed ways of bilateral cooperation to face the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, the Presidency said in a statement on Sunday.

France has been hit by one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks, as it has reported a total of more than 89,000 cases and over 7,500 deaths.

Sisi and Macron also discussed cooperation at the level of the African continent, based on the outcome of a mini-summit on April 3rd that brought together, via video conferencing, many African leaders including Sisi, as well as Macron. The summit aimed at backing the capabilities of Africa to face the novel virus.

They also reviewed some topics related to the bilateral relations between the two countries and also exchanged views on some regional issues of mutual concern, including developments in Libya.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, Sisi showed solidarity with nations battling coronavirus.

“We show solidarity as a government and a nation with all the governments and nations of the world in fighting coronavirus, we are fully prepared to offer support amid these tough times,” read the official post.

“The human values transcend everything else amid hard times, it will be God’s will that this tough time shall pass, we will be victorious and the history will remember Egypt’s greatness and its support for the whole world, as this pandemic takes place to remind us all of the importance of cooperation and unity, call us to come together, and to adopt responsibility, optimism, and patience. May God protect Egypt, its great people, and the peoples of the whole world.”

The Egyptian ministry of health reported Saturday 85 positive cases for coronavirus and 5 deaths, all of them Egyptians, bringing the total number of cases to 1,070. They contracted the virus from previously confirmed cases.

Also, the death toll increased to 71 after 5 new cases died, the ministry said.

The government announced that 25 have recovered from the infection to have the number of those recovered rising to 241. 306 cases changed from positive to negative for coronavirus, including the recovered 241.