CAIRO – 10 May 2020: Around a million people who came in contact with coronavirus positive patients are being tested, a presidential advisor said on Saturday, affirming that infected people are quarantined to avoid them from infecting others who can show severe symptoms, especially those who suffer from chronic diseases.
This comes as Egypt saw a surge in the daily number of coronavirus cases over the past two days, reporting a total of 8,964 cases and 514 deaths since the crisis started, according to the latest figures announced on Saturday.
In a telephone interview with Iman Al-Hossari on dmc channel, Presidential Advisor for Health Affairs Mohamed Tag El-Din urged citizens to stick to the preventive measures in order to avoid any increase in coronavirus cases during the coming period, noting that the capital Cairo and Alexandria have the largest number of cases in the country, due to large gatherings.
One million tests have been conducted so far, including 100,000 PCR tests, a tool that detects a virus’s genetic material, Tag El-Deen said in another interview with Al-Qahera Al-Aan on Al-Hadath.
“As long as the figures increase, it means that there is a real expected increase, people are starting to go for testing and that the Ministry of Health has started to trace contacts,” he stated.
“As long as the method of detection improves, this means that we are on the right track.”
“We expect this increase,” he said. “When we reach a fixed number within several days, the numbers will start to decrease and we will know that we passed the peak of the crisis.”
Concerning hospitals amid the increasing number of cases, Tag El-Din said quarantine hospitals are not yet full and there are hospitals that have not been used yet.
The test results of 2,476 people of the reported cases turned from positive to negative, including 2,002 people who fully recovered.
Also, 57 cases, all of them Egyptians, left hospital after they recovered, according to the instructions of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi late in April urged the medical staff to commit more to the preventive measures and the sterilization process amid the crisis, and paid tribute to the efforts of the medical sector.
As the president attended the opening of a number of national projects east of the Suez Canal, he also urged Egyptians to stick to the preventive measures against coronavirus in order to avoid tougher scenarios.
“If we have achieved success during the past period, we don’t want to lose what we have done during the next few weeks,” Sisi said, referring to the efforts to limit the spread of novel virus.
He also urged the citizens to maintain social distancing and avoid large gatherings, warning that the state may have to take tougher measures in case the coronavirus crisis developed.
The world and Egypt are facing an “invisible enemy,” Sisi said, adding that Egyptian people should be proud of those who are working to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the country.