Daily COVID-19 roundup: June 24

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 Tuesday, June 23:

New cases	Recoveries	New deaths
1,332	409	87
Current cases	Total cases	Total deaths
38,754	58,141	2,365

 

Doctors Syndicate confronts PM on comments blaming ‘doctors’ negligence’ for high COVID-19 death rate

The Doctors Syndicate issued a strongly worded statement lambasting the remarks Prime Minister Mostafa Madbuly made yesterday, where he blamed “the lack of discipline” shown by some doctors for the rise in COVID-19 deaths. The syndicate has demanded that he apologize for the remarks. 

In a statement released a few hours after the PM’s speech, the syndicate blasted his accusations, saying they “neglect the real reasons behind [the increase in deaths], which are limited capacity, extreme shortage of ICU beds and medical equipment.” The syndicate went so far as to characterize Madbuly’s remarks as “inciting anger against doctors,” fearing that his words “could lead to more assaults on doctors,” referring to past incidents in which relatives of COVID-19 patients have assaulted doctors and destroyed medical equipment. “Instead, [you] should issue a law criminalizing assaults on doctors,” the statement reads.

“We kindly ask his honor to review the list of deaths [and infections] among doctors since the crisis began,” the syndicate concluded. On Tuesday, the numbers stood at 91 deaths and over 430 recorded infections since the pandemic began in March.

Attempting to defend the PM, Cabinet Spokesperson Nader Saad attempted to tone down Madbuly’s remarks, claiming that Madbuly had meant to refer to only “two isolated cases” of negligence. “The prime minister doesn’t miss a chance to praise the medical staff and the role they have played since the beginning of the pandemic last March,” said Saad.

ـــــــــــــ

Education during a pandemic? 

News on the thanaweya amma exams continues to make headlines in Egypt’s press, with foreign language tests due Thursday despite concerns over community spread of coronavirus, and comment still rolling in after the crowding fiasco at the Arabic language exams on Sunday.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbuly reiterated a call to students’ parents, asking them not to crowd in front of testing centers. Despite the criticism the government has faced for going ahead with the exams, Madbuly stated that parents refusing to heed calls to avoid overcrowding are wasting the government’s efforts and the money paid into the Education Ministry’s infection reduction plan. 

And before the thanaweya amma exams finish on July 21, university students will be joining them to queue outside their own exam halls. 

Students in the final year of university courses will sit for exams on July 1, according to a statement published on Tuesday by the Supreme Council for Universities. 

Given that this date comes later than it normally would, students eligible for military conscription will be given a slight reprieve, with the SCU announcing that the conscription date will be pushed back to allow students to finish exams. 

On top of these measures, the current semester will be extended to September 15 for those not sitting exams.  

While the SCU says that students who wish to defer their exams due to concerns around COVID-19 may do so as long as they submit a request before July 1, that hasn’t stopped criticism of the plan to go ahead with in-person exams. 

MP Mohamed al-Ghoul leads the criticism of the plan, having sent a formal petition to the prime minister and the higher education minister to administer exams online or allow students to complete research projects. Ghoul says this is a necessary measure given the pervasive fear among students in light of the current infection rates. 

Several student unions, including those of the Misr University for Sciences and Technology and the Sohag University Student Union, had previously submitted requests making similar demands to Goul’s, citing their concerns that they could transmit infection to their families by gathering with other students to sit exams.

ـــــــــــــ

What were officials saying about COVID-19 on Tuesday?

“I hope Egypt will reach zero infections by September.”

So said COVID-19 Scientific Committee Member Dr. Ahmed Shawky, who spoke about the virus during an interview with the host of the Ala Massuleity program, Ahmed Moussa. Shawky hoped that high infection rates would calm by winter, since winter conditions could otherwise pave the way for a second wave of infections. Hossam Hosni, who heads the committee, made similar comments on Monday.

ـــــــــــــ

“Military and police hospitals remain in reserve, but there is no need to resort to using them at this time.”

Remarks on police and military hospitals came from Prime Minister Mostafa Madbuly today as he attempted to reassure the public that the infection rate across the country is still within an acceptable range, and that the situation remains under control. Back in May, Kawther Mahmoud of the Nurses Syndicate had asked for police hospitals to be pulled into the corps of hospitals in the health system dealing with COVID-19.

ـــــــــــــ

“Egypt is able to absorb repatriated workers into national projects.”

Egyptians who are returning from labor markets abroad will be able to find work in Egypt, Manpower Minister Mohamed Safaan said in an interview on the Ahlaam Muwatan TV program. The minister’s comments sit beside news in the Al-Mal newspaper that the Small and Medium Projects Authority is aiming to provide jobs for repatriated Egyptians.

ـــــــــــــ

Hospitals capacity and patient care

While the Health Minister has provided assurances that Egypt remains well equipped to treat patients — isolation hospitals stand at 59 percent capacity, while intensive care units are at 71 percent capacity, according to Zayed — the government took action against informal field hospitals on Tuesday. 

The informal hospital in question is the Rahmaniyah “camp” in the Beheira governorate, which was set up by residents to treat the local contingent of 9,591 adults and 753 children nationwide that are self-isolating at home. According to Cairo24, Parliament’s Health Committee Deputy Head MP Essam al-Qady addressed the camp in a conversation with Zayed today. The health minister, Kady is quoted as saying, refused to authorize operations at the field hospital as it does not meet infection control standards. Nonetheless, the Rahmaniyah field hospital would not be removed, Zayed reportedly said, in case it is needed down the line.

That promise does not seem to have been kept, however, as reports emerged on Facebook showing the field hospital in shambles, with users saying that the government had moved in to demolish the facility set up by local residents. 

Other news on hospital capacity continues to follow nascent plasma treatment centers, which have increased from five to 20 facilities, according to an announcement by Zayed, while news continued  to come in on hospitals’ ability to handle other chronic illnesses outside the scope of COVID-19 treatment, and fears of drug shortages.

• MP Mohamed Abdalla Zein Eddin sent a formal request to the Cabinet to inquire into the total number of COVID-19 patients who suffer from kidney failure. According to the MP, a number of health facilities have refused to provide dialysis for patients unless they submit a certificate. The MP says some hospitals have required patients to prove they are corona-free before providing services, which the MP says goes against all medical standards.
   
• Prime Minister Mostafa Madbuly called again on citizens to refrain from stockpiling medication, saying that the pharmaceutical companies are operating 24/7 to ensure that medication is available. Madbuly added that any shortages in medication will be resolved within the coming week.
   
• MP Tarek Metwally echoed the prime minister’s request by urging citizens to refrain from stockpiling medication. According to Metwally, this practice is the main reason behind the current shortages in the Egyptian market.
   
• Head of the pharmaceutical department at the Chambers of commerce, Dr. Ali Ouf, sought to allay public fear by stating that the current medicine stocks can last for nine to 12 months.
   
• The governor of Monufiya announced that local authorities have closed the pharmacy of Dr. Hatem Shaaban Gomaa, who was claiming that he had discovered a treatment for COVID-19.
   
• The local pharmaceutical company Eva Pharma will begin producing the antiviral drug Favipiravir, which has yielded positive results in studies conducted in Russia, Japan and a number of other countries. The drug joins a diverse array of other medications that Egypt is looking to manufacture. Last week Gilead Sciences announced it had reached an agreement to give Eva Pharma the rights to manufacture and distribute the antiviral Remdesivir in 127 countries, including Egypt. 

ـــــــــــــ

Who cares for healthcare workers?

The number of doctors who have died from COVID-19 continues to climb. On Tuesday, the Doctors Syndicate announced 91 doctors have died so far. 

Deaths among medical staff on Tuesday included:

• Dr. Mohamed Ghaliun -- Assiut University Hospital (link)
• Dr. Abdel Latif Dabur -- Senbellawein General Hospital (link)
• Among other workers in the health sector, Dr. Amjad Abdel Hamid, the director of the Monufiya Ambulance Facility, contracted COVID-19 on Tuesday. Abdel Hamid is the fourth Health Ministry official in the goverate to come down with the virus. 

The high death toll among medical staff prompted MP Mohamed Abdelghany on Tuesday to submit a request to the prime minister and health minister regarding reforms to pension payouts. According to coverage in Al-Shorouk, Abdelghany is concerned that doctors who have only put in a few years of service will receive pension payouts of less that LE500 monthly, leaving their families destitute in some cases. Instead, the MP is petitioning for the families of deceased doctors to be paid full doctor salaries and for their children to be exempted from academic expenses through college. 

 ـــــــــــــ

Money and business under COVID-19

Three payouts to informal workers have cost the government LE800 million, Labor Force Minister Mohamed Safaan said in comments to the Ahlaam Muwatan TV show on Tuesday. 

Some clothing factories have shut down due to falling demand amid the economic slowdown, as sales dipped below 25 percent of production for the same period in previous years, said Mohamed Abdel Salam, the head of the Readymade Clothing Chamber in the Federation of Egyptian Industries.

Tourists from Italy, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan will return to Sharm El Sheikh in mid July claims Atef Abdel Latif, the president of the Travel and Tourism Association. According to Abdel Latif, Belarussian, Belgian and Dutch tourism outfits have begun preparing and organizing trips for tourists to visit Egypt “soon,” while German and English tourists will return to Egypt in October. 

Despite calls by investors to extend the June 15 deadline for the execution of a number of projects until the end of the year, the Industrial Development Authority has only moved to extend the initial three-month moratorium on late fees until the close of July. 

Is the “rationalization” of public spending in the cards as the government continues to grapple with the negative repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic? While details are sparse and we’re not sure what “rationalization” of public spending could entail, a source from the Finance Ministry told Cairo24 that legislation to do so was discussed in a Cabinet meeting on June 17, and that the Cabinet will move to endorse the legislation in its next session.