Daily COVID-19 roundup: June 18

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Here are the latest figures on COVID-19 as of Wednesday, June 17:

Headline events in news on COVID-19 in Egypt on Wednesday:

Football clubs back out of league citing infection risk 

• Announcing that it will not participate in the Egyptian Premier League in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ismaili football club has said that “the lives of our players are more important.” 
• Aswan SC, Wadi Degla SC, and title contestant regulars Zamalek SC have also declined to play this season.
• “We don’t mind declaring Ahly the league champions for everyone’s sake,” said Mortada Mansour, Zamalek SC president, expressing willingness to cede the title to his club’s arch-rivals in the interests of protecting his players.
• Egyptian clubs got the government all clear to resume training from June 20, with the league due to start after a four-month hiatus on July 25.

Teenagers to begin exams on Sunday

• 600,000 school students will be queuing up outside exam halls around the country on Sunday to take their thanaweya amma (high school) exams. Education Minister Tarek Shawky said on Wednesday that everything was ready for the exams. 
• An administrative court has overturned Education Ministry Tarek Shawky’s decision to get residents of Bila village to take their thanaweya amma exams at the city of Kafr al-Sheikh, after parents filed a lawsuit arguing that Shawky’s decision placed an undue burden on them and their children.
• By contrast, the Pharmacists’ Syndicate has sent an official request to the PM, asking for pharmacy students’ exams not to be held as scheduled in July. The syndicate stated that plowing ahead with the schedule would pose a risk to students and their families.
• Distance learning and remote exams are now provided for in the universities law, after the PM issued a decree to amend the law’s executive regulations.
   

Governors from most affected governorates meet with health minister

• Health Minister Hala Zayed announced that the ministry will conduct daily meetings with the governors and hospital managers from the eight governorates with the highest rates of COVID-19 infection to better coordinate their response. Zayed said all hospitals have an adequate supply of medicine and PPE kits.

16 factories closed for failing to adhere to health standards, factory reduces shifts hours to allow for better social distancing 

• Sixteen factories at the industrial hub at 10th of Ramadan City have been closed for failing to comply with standard measures set by the government to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the governor of Sharqiyah announced on Wednesday. The closure will last 48 hours, in which time the factories have been told to put anti-COVID-19 precautions in place. The local authorities decided to take legal action against eight factory owners who had not implemented any infection control protocols. Coverage did not mention whether workers would be paid during the temporary shut down
   
• Shift-hours have been reduced for workers at a factory in Helwan, said Chief Executive Mogahed al-Faramawy, who explained that the measures were intended to reduce the risk of infection. According to Faramawy, the Helwan Factory for Developed Industries has doubled its production despite the restrictions in place amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Coverage from Al-Shorouk doesn’t clarify whether the workers will be paid for full time
   

Comments on Wednesday from government officials working on the response to the coronavirus:

• Health Minister Hala Zayed has said that 95% of those who have died of COVID-19 in Egypt were suffering from chronic illnesses
• The Health Ministry has denied reports on social media that there are over 200,000 requests from people who recovered from COVID-19 to donate plasma
   

Updates on capacity in the health system, treatment and quarantine protocol on Wednesday:

• Giza, with one of the highest rates of COVID-19 infections, will be getting an additional 100 hospital beds and an extra 20 ventilators by the end of next week. The resources are to be distributed over a number of hospitals, the Health Ministry announced Wednesday.
• 7,000 people infected with COVID-19, and 75,000 people who came into contact with them have received home-care kits including medication from the Health Ministry, said Hala Zayed during Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.
• Two buildings at a social housing project in Minya will be used to quarantine people who have contracted COVID-19 and have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic, and who are unable to quarantine at home, said the governor of Minya.
• In the wake of the pandemic, and following on from earlier plans to develop Egypt’s health sector, the Ministry of Planning has issued a report laying out plans to invest LE21.1 billion in the health system over the coming fiscal year of which Cairo will get 33%. The LE21.1 billion is equivalent to 8% of total government spending.
• Dexamethasone shouldn’t be used on all COVID-19 patients, said Dr. Amgad al-Hedad who heads the Allergy and Immunology Department of VACSERA. Hadad added that dexamethasone is best for severe cases, and has a success rate of between 20-30% in making the symptoms more moderate.
• Hydroxychloroquine has not been removed from Egypt’s COVID-19 treatment protocol, the Health Ministry announced Wednesday, denying rumors. Ministry spokesperson Khaled al-Mugahed said the drug has been both safe and effective during trials in Egypt.
• An extra three-month ban on exporting face masks was issued on Wednesday by the Trade and Industry Ministry, which said the ban is intended to make sure the growing domestic demand is met.

Coexisting with COVID-19

• In updates on Wednesday of plans to draw back restrictions on movement, gatherings and events:
  • Looking to get a flow of tourists going between Cyprus and Egypt in July, Egypt’s Tourism Minister Khaled al-Anany met online with the Cypriot deputy minister for tourism.
  • The Cabinet announced it will be launching a media campaign to highlight the measures in place in hotels across the country to reduce COVID-19 infections
  • Expenditure on low priority projects will be frozen for the next six months, said Planning Minister Hala al-Saeed, announcing that the Planning Ministry and the Finance Ministry were working to prioritize labor-intensive projects. 
  • Parliament has provided final approval for amendments to the infectious diseases law, which once enacted would expand the government’s powers to seize property, and enforce penalties for health measures, among other things.
  • Tax relief, soft loans with zero interest, and extended exploration contracts should be offered to the oil and gas industry across Africa, say African and international energy experts. They also called for measures to be introduced to ease performance standards.

Who cares for the healthcare workers?

• In news of how coronavirus affected workers on the front lines of the response to the pandemic on Tuesday:
  • Dr. Abdelhamid Abu Youssef, a consultant at the Mahmoudiya hospital, died of COVID-19 according to a Doctors’ Syndicate statement. 
  • The Doctors’ Syndicate also announced the death of Dr. Emile Fawzi Kamel who was a general surgery consultant at the Ebsheway Hospital in Fayoum.
  • Dr. Ali Howeidi, former director of the Sherbeen Fever Hospital, has died of COVID-19.
  • Dr. Abdel Latif Dabbour, a urologist at the Sinbelwein General Hospital, has died of COVID-19.
  • A pharmacist being treated for COVID-19 at the Baltim isolation hospital has died of COVID-19.
  • 12 nurses working at the Kafr al-Sheikh General Hospital have isolated at the Sidi Ghazi Central Hospital after testing positive for COVID-19. 
  • Dr. Abdul Maheed Al-Bouhy, an ophthalmologist from Monufiya, has tested positive for COVID-19 after his mother was killed by the virus.
  •  After a number of physical altercations between the families of patients and security personnel who previously worked in the university’s hospitals, the head of Banha University announced that a new security company will supply a security detail to the hospitals. 

Working with COVID-19

•  And finally, in news of how coronavirus affected workers elsewhere on Wednesday
  • Former MP Mohamed Yehia Akl died of COVID-19 in Kafr al-Sheikh
  • A lawyer at the Egyptian State Lawsuits Authority and former judge Peter Nabil has died of COVID-19 in Sohag.
  • The office manager of Assiut University’s vice president for student affairs has tested positive for COVID-19
  • Head of the Lawyers Syndicate Ragai Atteya has announced that the Health Ministry has agreed to provide lawyers with home isolation packs for free.