Daily COVID-19 roundup: June 15

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, June 14:

• Headline events in news on COVID-19 in Egypt on Sunday:
  • Flights in and out of Egypt will resume from July 1, Civil Aviation Minister Manar Enabah confirmed during a Sunday presser. Enabah listed the precautions and procedures that travelers passing through Egyptian airports would have to abide by:
    • Individuals travelling from countries defined as suffering from large-scale community transmission by the WHO must present the results of a PCR test administered within 48 hours of the flight.
    • Travelers to observe social distancing rules while queuing, embarking and disembarking from the plane.
    • Each passenger will receive a pack containing gloves, sanitizer and face masks.
    • Passengers and crew must wear face masks throughout the flight. 
    • The last two rows on each flight will be designated as an isolation area for individuals showing symptoms of COVID-19.
    • Airports will be required to disinfect public spaces, surfaces and passenger’s luggage regularly.
  • Information Minister Osama Heikal said all the measures are the same as those used by other countries.
     
• In news around bed capacity in the health system.
  • TV presenter Khaled Abou Bakr called for the Health Ministry to reveal accurate figures on the number of vacant hospital beds at isolation hospitals, after several complaints from people who have been unable to find beds for COVID-19 patients.
  • Pictures have circulated on social media showing a large field hospital being constructed in the New Cairo Exhibition Center. There has been no official confirmation, however, nor announcement on when this facility will be put to use.
     
• And in news on treatment for COVID-19:
  • GILEAD Sciences has concluded an agreement to give Eva Pharma the rights to manufacture and distribute the antiviral remdesivir in 127 countries, including Egypt. Remdesivir is being developed as a possible COVID-19 treatment.
  • A report from the privately-owned Al-Mal news website says that the Sovereign Wealth Fund could be looking to invest in the publicly-owned pharmaceutical company Chemical Industries Development. The news on Sunday comes after the SWF specified its three investment priorities, including a focus on healthcare services. While not yet a done deal, sources told Al-Mal that CID is among several different investment options being studied by the SWF’s healthcare subsidiary fund. In May, the SWF announced that it had signed a preliminary agreement with New-York based private equity managers Concord International Investments to cooperate on selecting investment opportunities appropriate for the SWF’s healthcare subsidiary fund by “jointly contributing to its seed capital.” 
• In further updates on the gradual return of tourism
  • With flights due to take off on July 1, Tourism Minister Khaled al-Anany  announced preparations for the foreign tourists he’s hoping will come with them:
    • Tourists will at first be allowed only to visit the governorates of South Sinai, the Read Sea and Matrouh. The minister explained that these three were chosen due to their low infection rates, adding that tourists will not be allowed to travel to other parts of the country. Anany stressed that letting tourists back into Egypt is not just Egypt’s decision, but also depends on the tourists’ home country and on travel agencies.
    • Museums and archaeological sites will reopen on July 1, Anany added. The Hurghada Museum is due to reopen in the coming days, and will be followed by the pyramids, the Egyptian Museum and the Karnak Temple.
    • The Chamber for Tourist Establishments has criticized the government for holding back on allowing tourist restaurants, cafes and shops to reopen, and has said the Chamber will be in open session until the government allows touristic restaurants to start up again. At the moment, only restaurants within hotels are allowed to take customers at tables. According to the statement from the chamber, which is part of the Federation of Egyptian Industries, the Chamber was expecting the Cabinet to have given restaurants the go-ahead after its meeting last week.
    • After shutting down a Hurghada resort due to a party thrown for hotel guests that violated social distancing rules, Anany has stated that any hotel breaking the ministry’s regulations will be shut down immediately.
       
• Several officials made comments on Egypt’s epidemiological curve on Sunday, on the potential for a second wave, and on one of the more unusual ways the virus could be transmitted.
  • “June is likely the peak month for infections,” said Dr. Hossam Hosny, who heads the Health Ministry’s Scientific Committee to Combat COVID-19. Hosny said on Monday that infection rates should start going down in the second half of July. He repeated statements he’s made before, stressing that it’s hard to pin down the exact day when infections in Egypt will peak, but adding that “we will know we reached the peak once we have passed it.”
  • Virologist Yehia Mekky has stated that a second wave of COVID-19 infections will be on the way in winter, a prediction that Dr. Hossam Hosny backed up. According to Hosny, the most important thing now is to find an effective treatment for the virus.
  • In a bizarre warning on COVID-19 transmission, a warning that sniffing clothes before purchasing could increase the risk of infection came from Ehab Attiyah, head of the Health Ministry’s Infection Control Unit. 

“Coexisting with coronavirus”

• In updates on Sunday of future plans to draw back restrictions on movement, gatherings and events.
  • Deputy head of the Nation’s Future party MP Hossam al-Kholy stated that the Senate elections, which are scheduled for August, can be held during the COVID-19 pandemic and that social distancing can be implemented at polling stations. His comments came after a couple of MPs have put forward calls for electronic voting.
  • Plans to reopen places of worship for congressional prayer will be announced on July 1 by the endowments minister.
  • The ministers of information and of sports will be holding a joint press conference today to announce plans for reopening clubs and sporting venues. 

Who cares for the healthcare workers?

• In news of how coronavirus is affecting workers on the front lines of the response to the pandemic.
  • Iman Ibrahim Adham, 43, died yesterday after contracting COVID-19. Adham was the director of a health unit in the village of Atwab, affiliated with the Wasiti Health Department, north of Beni Suef Governorate.
  • The Doctor’s Syndicate announced that Dr. Nabil Nessim, a cardiology consultant, has died after contracting COVID-19.
  • Thirty healthcare workers at the Monufiya University Hospital have been isolated due to COVID-19, according to the dean of the university’s Faculty of Medicine.
  • Head of the financial and administrative affairs unit at the Monufiya Health Directorate has tested positive for COVID-19.
  • Five staff members at the Bagour Health Directorate have tested positive for COVID-19, including the head of the health office. 
  • Two men have been arrested in Mahalla for damaging hospital property and attacking staff, claiming that their relatives had died as a result of hospital negligence.

Working with COVID-19

• And finally, in news of how coronavirus affected workers elsewhere on Sunday
  • The National Media Authority has denied reports that staff members with COVID-19 were refused treatment pending the payment of debts owed by the authority to the hospital.
  • A post office in the Duweirat village, Sohag was shut down after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. The post office will remain closed for seven days  
  • A priest in Luxor who was self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19 has been transferred to hospital.
  • MP Sherine Farrag, who was the first MP to contract COVID19, attended yesterday’s session of Parliament after a 50-day absence. 
  • The governor of Fayoum has shut down a branch of the Eastern Tobacco Company for not adhering to rules on social distancing.