Daily COVID-19 roundup: June 1

Editor’s note: The daily COVID-19 roundup is part of the Mada Morning Digest, our daily overview of what is making waves in the Arabic language press. If you want all the latest updates on COVID-19 and other leading stories — including coverage of the economy, foreign policy, Parliament, the judiciary, media and much more — to land in your mailbox each morning, subscribe for a free trial here. 

Here are the latest figures on COVID-19 as of Sunday, May 31:

1st new case of COVID-19 confirmed at hotel amid reopening of tourism sector

Just a week after resorts reopened for domestic tourism, a hotel in the Red Sea has reported the first COVID-19 case since the sector reopened, according to coverage from Cairo24. 

A Cabinet decree is still nevertheless due to raise the cap on hotel occupancy to 50 percent starting June. 

Despite precautionary measures including a 25 percent cap on occupancy rates and limits on the number of staff at hotels, the case was confirmed at a hotel with only seven staff members present and two families, according to Al-Shorouk. Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafy noted that the case affects only one of the 40 hotels that have reopened in the governorate. 

The tourism sector has taken the worst of the hit to the economy amid global lockdown. A study released last week projected that Egypt’s tourism revenues will fall a staggering 72 percent in the next fiscal year. 

 The sector is one of Egypt’s key industries, employing thousands of people and providing a key source of dollar income, making up around three percent of GDP.  Tourism receipts peaked at US$13.03 billion in 2019, after a $5.9 billion nadir in 2013 upon the overthrow of former President Mohamed Morsi.  

The government has sought to support the survival of tourist entities through several assistance measures. While tourist companies got holidays on income and real estate tax at first, measures to reopen the sector have come in earlier than elsewhere.

Over 70 hotels have been granted hygiene safety certification from the Tourism Ministry to host a limited number of domestic tourists, while the tourism minister was courting his Greek and Spanish counterparts last week in the early stages of a bid to bring back tourists from those countries “under strict measures.” Some international airlines are reportedly preparing to roll out air flights to Egypt soon. 

Hospital capacity tops agenda at govt health group meeting

As the number of daily infections recorded in Egypt mounted for the sixth consecutive day, press statements from a Sunday meeting of the government’s health group pointed to an effort to raise hospital and medical staff capacity across the country.

The comments come after a major change in the protocol for handling patients, and after several reports have suggested hospitals are struggling to deal with both testing and accommodating the volume of patients.

Cabinet Spokesperson Nader Saad is cited as reassuring the press that, “Any patient in need of a bed will have a spot,” according to a headline from the privately-owned Masrawy news website. 

Saad said the current rate of occupancy at dedicated quarantine hospitals stands at 85 percent, while he claimed that 17 percent of the beds set aside for treating coronavirus patients are full at the 320 public hospitals that were most recently drafted-in to screen patients presenting with COVID-19 symptoms. 

After examining patients' symptoms, the 320 hospitals are to send patients with mild symptoms home to self-isolate, while admitting or transferring to isolation hospitals only severe or critical cases, according to the latest protocol. Health Minister Hala Zayed commented Sunday on the increased capacity of medical convoys and mobile clinics, which are currently tasked with dispersing treatment to patients who are self-isolating.  

Seven university hospitals, meanwhile, joined the cohort of isolation hospitals fully dedicated to treating COVID-19 patients, according to Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar.

Hospitals in the private sector came under fire for extortionate pricing, during Sunday’s health group meeting, with Saad exclaiming that the prices for private coronavirus care are “crazy.” Prime Minister Mostafa Madbuly also referred to the “exaggerated” costs for COVID-19 treatment at private hospitals. He called for the ministers concerned to cap the charges, according to reporting from Al-Shorouk under a headline which reads, “Madbouly calls for a cap to COVID-19 treatment fees at private hospitals.”  

Reporting from Cairo24 shortly after private hospitals began to participate in Egypt’s response to COVID-19 revealed that PCR test prices reached as high as LE3,500 at Assalam Private Hospital in Cairo. 

Despite voicing criticism for private hospitals, officials distanced themselves from the idea that Armed Forces hospitals would be added to the response to COVID-19, with Cabinet spox Nader Saad saying they would only be used in the event of a real crisis.

Attempts to up staff capacity at hospitals also continued Sunday, with Health Minister Hala Zayed renewing the call for doctors to serve their country as  “the soldiers in this battle.” Once again she called on all doctors on leave to return immediately, as well as obliging hospital directors to send a list of the names of doctors who have not shown up to work, without mentioning if consequences are to be enforced. 

The capacity of the COVID-19 hotline service was also on the table, as well as mobilizing crisis committees in governorates.

Staff on medical teams have been depleted since the pandemic began by repeated outbreaks, with a lack of PPE provision leaving doctors and nurses particularly vulnerable to infection. After the PM acceded to doctors’ demands for better access to PCR testing, a headline on Saturday highlighted a Health Ministry statement which said that “more than 10,000 PCRs for doctors” have been conducted.

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

• Comments by top officials leading the press on Sunday night included:
  • Dr. Mohamed Tag Eddin, the president’s health advisor, put the ongoing upward surge in recorded cases down to “family visits during Eid.” 
  • The PM also announced a minor change to curfew hours over the next two weeks, shortening the overnight ban on unnecessary movement to finish at 5 am instead of 6 am. Cabinet spokesperson Nader Saad said “the decision to change curfew hours was a response to the people’s demands,” after people complained they couldn’t get to work on time.
     
• In updates on the gradual reopening of public spaces and the economy under the “coexisting with coronavirus” plan:
  • The Endowments Ministry stamped on rumors that mosques might reopen for congressional prayer, with the minister saying that a reopening date would not be announced any time soon.
  • As for keeping industry going, Manpower Minister Mohamed Saafan said Sunday that “increasing the number of shifts [at factories] is better than a contagion that forces us to shut factories down,” sharing concerns over the economic repercussions of COVID-19 in industry during a presser at 10th of Ramadan City.
     
• Continued signs that the government is being slightly more responsive to doctors' complaints continued on Sunday. After tension between doctors and the government came to a head after the May 24 death of Dr. Walid Yehia Abdel Halim at the Mounira Hospital, the Health Ministry and the PM had ceded to some of the Doctors Syndicate’s demands at the end of May.
  • Health Minister Hala Zayed met Sunday with Doctors Syndicate reps to discuss the COVID-19 situation, though the content of the meeting wasn't divulged to the press.
  • After the PM decided to agree to the Doctors Syndicate's demand that any doctor who has come into contact with a positive COVID-19 case should have access to PCR tests, the University of Cairo is due to roll out the strategy as of today. A hotline service especially for staff will also respond to COVID-19 related inquiries.
     
• At least five hospital workers died on Sunday — in line with an uptick in the number of deaths due to the virus nationwide — highlighting the continued vulnerability of workers on the front line. News of infections among medical staff also continued to come in. 
  • A member of staff has died at the Ahmed Maher Teaching Hospital due to COVID-19. The staff member headed the Occupational Safety and Security Department. 
  • Dr. Ahmed Mahmoud Abu Sadeq died at Aswan’s Sadaqa Hospital after contracting COVID-19.
  • Mohamed Farid al-Gendy, who was a department head at the National Heart Institute, died of COVID-19 on Sunday
  • Gamal Aboul Ela died after reaching critical condition due to COVID-19 infection.
  • Assiut pediatrician Dr. Albert Gerges died of COVID-19, with the Doctors Syndicate releasing an obituary. 
  • Two healthcare workers at Minya General hospital were confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 on Sunday. One, who is in critical condition, was transferred to the Mallawi Quarantine Hospital for treatment, while the other nurse is reported to have mild symptoms and was instructed to quarantine at home. 
  • The head of the  Damanhour Fever Hospital has tested positive for COVID-19, and is reportedly in stable condition. 
  • A doctor at Desouk General Hospital was transferred to a quarantine hospital in Baltim, Kafr al-Sheikh, after contracting COVID-19 at work.
     
• And cases and deaths due to COVID-19 outside the health sector on Sunday included:
  • The courier deputy head of the Railways Authority died of COVID-19 on Sunday.
  • The deputy governor of Alexandria and his advisor, who tested positive. 
  • MP Eid Heikal, who became the fifth parliamentarian to test positive for COVID-19 so far, after MPs Nashwa al-Deeb, Sherine Farrag, Amr al-Watany and Hisham Magdy before him
  • 5 TV anchors working for separate channels reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday.
  • Echoing the account of a security source who spoke to the privately-owned Youm7 on Saturday, the Cairo24 news website runs with a statement from the Interior Ministry to rebuke news reports which have said that an employee of the Tora prison died as a result of COVID-19. The Interior Ministry released a statement early on Sunday morning repeating the claim that the employee, Sayed Ahmed Hegazy, had taken medical leave on May 17 to receive treatment for a chronic illness. He had conducted a PCR test before his death, the ministry claims, but died before results came out, which turned out to be positive
  • The Pharmacists Syndicate closed its main office in Garden City after more than eight members of staff contracted COVID-19.
  • The Lawyers Syndicate is due to reopen its main office tomorrow after it shut for a couple of days when two employees tested positive for the virus.