Daily COVID-19 roundup: July 9

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Here are the latest figures on COVID-19 as of Wednesday July 8:

What were officials saying about COVID-19 on Wednesday?

“We are most likely past the peak stage. When there are no further [surges] after the drop in infection rates, we will be sure that we are past the peak"— Dr. Gihan al-Assal, deputy chair of the Scientific Committee to Combat the Coronavirus at the Ministry of Health

“We still have cases that need hospital[ization], and there is a death rate, but the general situation is stable and an understanding of the issue puts us in a better place than before” — Awad Tag Eddin, presidential advisor on health affairs

“Praise be to God, we have passed the peak stage in the governorate” — Dr. Bakry Abdel-Sattar, director of Luxor Isolation Hospital 

The worst of coronavirus in Egypt has possibly come to an end, or at least health officials and scientists hoped so on Wednesday. 

Following three days of significantly fewer daily infections, Gihan al-Assal from the Scientific Committee to Combat Coronavirus said that Egypt was “most likely past the peak” now, but highlighted that a verdict on this matter would require a consistent decrease and no daily surges in the upcoming days. The President’s advisor for health affairs Mohamed Awad Tag Eddin was more cautious. While asserting that he is “happy” with the drop, he asserted that “caution” is still needed as the decrease needs to be “consistent” for more days, highlighting as well the need to maintain mask wearing.  

Assal also said that less crowding has been reported from hospitals and a few hospitals have already returned to normal.

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Coexistence with COVID-19

A collapse in demand for building materials has brought sales to a halt during the pandemic, traders and manufacturers have said.

They added that the six-month moratorium on construction activity in major cities around the country that was imposed by the government in May has exacerbated the problem.

It’s a nightmare for the cement sector, which was beset by oversupply problems even before the pandemic that had pushed several companies to the brink of bankruptcy. For cement companies, relief measures such as reduced electricity and natural gas bills have not been enough, said the managing director of Misr Cement Company Tarek Talaat yesterday during a virtual conference organized by INTERCEM, a global network of cement producers. “The sector needs further initiatives to stimulate demand and bridge the gap between consumption and production,” said Taalat.

Pharos Holding’s senior associate Mark Adeeb agreed with Talaat, saying that the government needs to put forward measures to “address low profitability,” suggesting that the government focus as well on “higher utilization rates in the long term.”

Last month, Solomon Baumgartner Aviles, CEO of Lafarge Group in Egypt, said that demand for cement has fallen in Egypt by 15% year-on-year for the first four months of 2020.

The cement market slump is a long term problem. After the Armed Forces entered the sector with the mega Al-Areesh factory in Beni Suef, benefitting at the same time from tax breaks and low labor costs, the additional supply has brought down prices for private-sector competitors, while there has been no corresponding increase in demand. Several companies have exited the Egyptian market as a result of the bump in supply represented by the Areesh factory.

Sales of construction steel are also plummeting, according to Ahmed al-Zeeny, head of the Building Materials Unit in the Egyptian Federation of Commercial Chambers. The moratorium on building has left the market only operating to service hospitals and new urban communities, said Zeeny. Although traders and construction steel producers have cut prices, contractors are facing problems with paying upfront. “Steel companies have resorted to selling steel via future payments,” an arrangement with no upfront payments, said Zeeny.  

• A significant hike in infections in Beni Zayed village, Assiut has led the Assiut Health Directorate to shut down all places of entertainment in the area to try and get the community spread back under control Cairo24 reports.
   
• An inspector overseeing ongoing technical diploma exams was transported to the hospital on Wednesday after showing COVID-19 symptoms.
   
• Despite the fact that German tourists could be steering clear of Egypt for a while to come, the Oxford Business Group reckons that Egypt could still exert a pull for tourists worldwide. Safety efforts and incentives to attract tourists, at the same time as tourists are looking for affordable destinations could make “emerging countries” like Egypt popular among tourists, argues the report.

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Who cares for healthcare workers? 

Two more doctors were announced to have died of COVID-19 on Wednesday:

• Dr. Adel Hangel, who was the head of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department and died at Basion Central Hospital.
• Dr. Mohamed Bargouth, an assistant teacher at the Pediatric Department at the Faculty of Medicine at Tanta University and who died at the Tanta University Isolation Hospital.

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Working with COVID-19

Speaking on behalf of President Sisi at a virtual summit with the International Labor Organization on Wednesday, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbuly discussed how coronavirus has brought home migrant workers and talking up Egypt’s efforts to provide cash grants to support informal laborers without income.

• In the meantime, almost 289,000 regular workers from 2,898 entities in the tourism, and textile and weaving sectors, public and private, were paid their baseline salary via the labor emergency fund of the Labor Force Ministry, which is financed through routine deductions from social insurance payments. The ministry said that applications from employers in 3,356 entities have landed on the ministry’s desk thus far, while employers from another 458 entities are currently finalizing their applications.