Daily COVID-19 roundup: May 12
 
 

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Here are the latest figures on COVID-19 as of Monday, May 11:

 

New cases Recovered New deaths
346 99 8
Current cases Total cases Total deaths
6,558 9,746 533

 

The Health Ministry has circulated an internal memo outlining the steps that must be taken before PCR tests are administered to suspected COVID-19 cases.

The news comes amid uncertainty over the trend in Egypt’s rate of infection and a somewhat incoherent flurry of messaging from officials, whose comments on both the severity of the outbreak and the approach toward lockdown have differed substantially over the past few days.

The number of cases recorded daily inclined sharply upward for the first weeks of May, with 495 cases registered at a peak on May 8. A slight dip over the past two days however saw 436 new cases recorded on May 10, and 346 registered on May 11.

According to the guidelines in the Health Ministry memo on Monday night, patients suspected of having COVID-19 must undergo a chest X-ray, a complete blood count, and receive a referral signed by two specialists before going for PCR testing. The memo warns that medical staff will face legal action if they do not adhere to the new regulations.  

The message comes amid uncertainty around the number of PCR tests — the main type of test in use to confirm coronavirus cases — that Egypt is administering on a daily basis. On April 23, Health Minister Hala Zayed said that Egypt had conducted over 90,000 PCR tests to date, while an update from State Information Services on May 9 reported that the ministry had now conducted over 105,000 PCR tests. The World Health Organization said on March 28 that Egypt has the capacity to conduct up to 200,000 tests, though it did not specify what kind of tests it was referring to.

With the trend in the rate of infection unclear, comments from top officials handling the response to the coronavirus have been equally muddled over the past week, with contradictory indications around whether the lockdown is likely to be tightened or lifted after Eid.

Dr. Hossam Hosny, who heads the Health Ministry’s COVID-19 Science Committee, appeared on Monday night on the Al-Hadath Al-Youm talk show. He told host Lamis al-Hadidy that he hoped the government would enforce a total lockdown for the last week of Ramadan and the first week of Eid al-Fitr, although he pointed hopefully to the dip in new cases recorded over the past two days.

It is unclear how Hosny’s comments square with Sunday’s remarks from Dr. Mohamed Tag Eddin, health advisor to the president. Though Tag Eddin initially said that “we might have to resort to a full lockdown” if the number of cases continued on the upward trajectory, he quickly contradicted himself, denying shortly afterward that the government was considering total lockdown, and claiming his earlier statement was misunderstood. 

Speaking on Monday, Hosny echoed the advice of a letter submitted to the Cabinet on May 4, in which leaders of the Doctors Syndicate also called for a stricter lockdown until the end of Ramadan. Both Hosny and the syndicate leaders advised that the next two weeks would be an opportune moment to keep people at home, speculating that the annual economic slowdown that comes with Ramadan working hours would minimize the negative impact on the economy.

Beyond the top news, several other items related to COVID-19 made it to the headlines in Tuesday’s press.

  • The rate of infections among frontline health workers is starting to cause staffing problems, according to Akram Fayek, a member of the state committee tasked with handling the response to COVID-19. Fayek said the Health Ministry has set a team of consultants to broach staff shortages at quarantine hospitals and to monitor the nurse-to-patient ratio.

 

  • In the meantime, graduate medics aren’t being allocated to hospitals fast enough: 7,000 medical graduates have appealed for the president to step in and sort out the mess, after the Health Ministry bungled the process of allocating the fresh cohort of doctors to professional residency programs. The March 2020 class has condemned the Health Ministry for neglecting to avert a crisis, despite multiple attempts from students and the Doctors Syndicate to flag issues in the unwieldy system in advance of its implementation. The students have asked for the ministry to revert to the older system, given the urgency of the moment. While the Health Ministry acknowledged receiving the appeals, it is yet to issue a response.

 

  • In the same vein, a backup team of over 100 doctors sent by the Health Ministry has arrived to Aswan University Hospital, which was taken out of action after at least 20 staff members contracted the virus.

 

  • Various new reports on Monday night attested to further infections among health workers:
    • The dean at the Faculty of Medicine of Al-Azhar University for Girls has tested positive for COVID-19, and 14 people who were in contact with her are in isolation.
    • A nurse at a health unit in the district of Itay al-Baroud has tested positive for COVID-19, leading a further 47 doctors, nurses and workers from the unit to self isolate. A replacement team has been assigned to keep the unit running.
    • Twelve nurses and other workers have tested positive for COVID-19 at Zagazig University Hospital, Cairo. The university also reported one death, without specifying whether the deceased was a member of staff or a patient.

 

  • Many companies soldier on despite the surge in infections earlier in May, with several workplaces announcing new precautions on Monday to limit transmissions of the virus among staff. 
    • The Federation of Egyptian Banks said that every bank in the country should be making both visitors and staff wear masks before entry.
    • Everyone at Alexandria University will have to do the same, following Monday’s instructions from the head of the university, Dr. Issam Al-Kurdi.
       
  • Yet infections continue to affect those still going to work, according to several reports on Monday.
    • A Supply Ministry employee who heads the stamp department has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19. 
    • And Dr. Neveen al-Nahas, who leads the health minister’s Technical Office, has tested positive and been taken to Abu Khalifa Quarantine Hospital, Ismailia.
       
  • Several additional areas across Egypt were also cordoned off by security forces Monday in localized lockdowns: 
    • Several villages and areas of Fayoum will be under a 14-day lockdown as of Sunday, after a cluster of residents tested positive for COVID-19.
    • An outbreak in Monufiya has led to a 12-day partial lockdown in the villages of Danshaway and Zawya Naoura.
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