Daily COVID-19 roundup: June 25

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Here are the latest figures on COVID-19 as of Wednesday, June 24:

 

New cases	Recovered	New deaths
1,420	412	85
Current cases	Total cases	Total deaths
39,677	59,561	2,450

 

Skeptical of coexistence

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbuly did not hide the fact that the decision to reopen businesses was based on the economy rather than the rate of infection in his Tuesday address to the nation. 

However, the economic payout and feasibility of the government’s coexistence plan was met with skepticism in coverage on Wednesday. 

On Tuesday, Madbuly said that the Cabinet has received hundreds of complaints from companies and businesses that have been negatively impacted by the protective measures over the last few months. “There are 3.5 million citizens employed in the services sector who were harmed by shutdowns,” said Madbuly.  

One of the sectors that don’t seem to be completely on board with the economic payouts is the film industry, at least according to director Gabi Khoury, a member of the Film Industry Chamber in the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce. 

While Madbuly gave a thumbs up for cinemas to resume shows at 25 percent occupancy, Khoury is quoted in Cairo24 as saying such a decision is a “great danger” that will cause significant financial losses. The director asks how the industry will pay workers in theaters and meet overhead costs while they’re only one-quarter full.

“There will be no new films to show during this period,” Khoury says, arguing that no production house would distribute their films in accordance with the government’s decisions. 

Restaurants and cafes will also have to commit to the 25 percent cap on customers, with owners required to sign off on a list of work requirements before opening, Deputy Local Development Minister Khaled Qassem has said, according to Al-Watan. 

A chorus of MPs are quoted in Al-Shorouk praising the government and shifting the onus for the coexistence plan’s success onto individual awareness — as opposed to a coherent public health plan. Yet there is also a tacit acknowledgment that enforcement of the coexistence plan might not be so easy. 

Besides calling for stringent policing methods, Parliament’s Social Solidarity Committee Deputy Mohamed Abu Hamed acknowledges that it would be difficult to enforce the government’s new plans. 

This sentiment was taken a step further by MP Atef Makhaleef who told Wael al-Ibrashy in an appearance on the TV host’s Al-Taasea program that the coexistence plans would be impossible to implement on the ground, especially the 25 percent occupancy rate at cafes. 

In the absence of enforcement measures and a realistic public health initiative, individual cafes and restaurants will have to navigate between shirking the 25 occupancy rates in a desire to turn a profit after months of economic stagnation and ensuring the health and safety of customers and staff.

If the government detects an outbreak at an eatery, a 14-day shutdown order will follow, according to Qassem, sending the establishment back into financial purgatory. 

However, the domestic economy is only part of the concern for Egypt. The government’s coexistence plan is also looking to shore up the tourism sector, an important source of foreign currency. 

Al-Shorouk has the details of a plan for the “safe entry of tourists” designed to set in place hygiene control measures in governorates preparing to start to receive tourist inflows. The plan will include an attempt to build a contact tracing infrastructure, where all passengers entering the three governorates will be handed out a “follow-up” card and register their personal data.

Major elements of the plan, according to coverage by the press, focus on training the medical staff  at hospitals in the Red Sea, South Sinai and Marsa Matrouh governorates on how to provide “hotel-like hospitality services” and “take care of their uniform” in order to “provide high-level health services appropriate for Egypt’s image.”

Beaches inside resorts and hotels will be exempted from the continued closure of public beaches, says Cabinet Spokesperson Nader Saad, justifying the exemption by pointing that hotels and resorts' beaches are actually “private.” Beachgoers in hotels and resorts are, however, still required to social distance, added Saad.

Away from the government’s economic-driven plan, several religious institutions weighed in on how they’d resume congressional prayer on Wednesday. 

• Scrambling to get mosques ready for reopening all over the country, the endowments minister held a number of meetings with the directors of endowment directorates across the country. According to coverage carried in Al-Shorouk, the ministry is trying to get imams and employees to universalize the protective measures that will be associated with the reopening, which include enforcing obligatory mask wearing and social distancing markers on floors inside mosques
   
• The Protestant Church, however, decided to take the return of congressional prayer in its churches a bit slower, announcing pushing the opening date to July 6 in order to prepare properly for efficient protective measures  

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 What were people saying about COVID-19 on Wednesday?

“Preparations to start the league are on time. There is no intention to postpone. The decision to return is a state decision, and we will announce it within the new few days.”

 — Egyptian Football Federation source

“The difference in financial capabilities between clubs has not been taken into consideration. There will be a problem if a player contract with the virus. What will we do for the rest of the team?” 

— Ayman al-Muzain, Tanta FC coach 

"Most of the team, because I am close to them in age and I communicate with them humanely, have politely told me that they are afraid for their families and they are staying in their homes." 

— Zamalek FC General Supervisor Amir Mortada Mansour  

After six players tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, criticism continues to focus on the plan to resume the Egyptian Premier League. The coach of Tanta FC, which had five players test positive, is quoted in the football news portal Filgoal as pointing to divergence in clubs’ abilities to pay to test and treat players, a reality clubs must manage after the state shot down rumors that it would pay for testing.  Filgoal also has the scoop on a Zamalek FC board meeting, in which the club’s administration reiterated that it won’t be participating in a resumption of the league. Nonetheless, Cairo24 quotes an official source within the Egyptian Football Federation reaffirming the plan to resume the league. 

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“It’s not true at all that the virus is getting less strong, on the contrary, today […] the condition of six patients on the ward started deteriorating; two of those young men in their twenties […] I had to choose only two out of six – there were 15 people 

Al-Masry Al-Youm carries the account of Dr. Nada Attia, who recounted a harrowing 24 hours at work at Aswan Specialized Hospital, which is being used as a quarantine hospital

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“We expected to reach 60,000 cases by June 24, and we expect to reach 70,000 COVID-19 cases by June 30”

Egypt will see a jump of 10,000 infections in the next seven days, according to Higher Education Minister Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, who offered the projection on TV host Khaled Abo Bakr’s show Kol Youm.

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“Medical teams were hoping for at least some moral support from the prime minister in their fight against the pandemic.” 

— Sherine Ghaleb - Head of Cairo Doctors Syndicate

“The [health] minister’s remarks on occupancy rates in isolation hospitals and that beds are available in hospitals (in contrast to the reality at most hospitals) only give citizens the impression that doctors are turning them down without justification, which could lead to more assaults against doctors.” 

— Assiut Doctors Syndicate  

“How many billions were cut out for the health sector of the LE100 billion announced by the president at the beginning of the pandemic? Perhaps, if we know this number, we would understand the real reasons behind the hike in infections and deaths.” 

— Assiut Doctors Syndicate   

“Doctors have been on duty non-stop since the beginning of the crisis in an atmosphere of assaults, lack of protective equipment, and absence of any form of financial or moral support.”

— Youth Committee of Doctors Syndicate

 

Several branches of the Doctors Syndicate blasted government officials on Wednesday, taking umbrage at remarks in which Prime Minister Mostafa Madbuly connected death rates to doctors’ negligence, and at Health Minister Hala Zayed’s assertion that isolation hospitals and ICUs are not close to full occupancy.  The Doctors Syndicate pointed instead toward a lack of personal protective equipment, staff shortages due to high rates of infection among medical staff, and the ongoing delay in assigning medical graduates to the residency positions. Taking on Zayed’s claim about occupancy rates, the Assiut Doctors Syndicate pressed the health minister to release exact data on the number of beds free at all hospitals on the Health Ministry’s website. The Doctors Syndicate said it will hold a  virtual press conference to showcase doctors’ “heroism and sacrifices” next Saturday. 

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Hospitals capacity and patient care

While donations of protective equipment to state funds and hospitals continue to be heralded in the press, the informal sector, which is attempting to shore up supply shortages, continues to get the proverbial stick. 

Wednesday’s coverage, which falls in line with a bevy of reports of arrests and prosecutions since mask wearing was made obligatory,  highlights several incidents in which informal manufacturers were arrested and faced interrogation. 

An “unlicensed factory” in Talbia in Giza was raided by security forces who found “8,500 masks that do not meet standards,” reports the privately-owned Al-Bawaba newspaper. The factory, originally licensed to make clothes, was shut down and the owner was arrested and referred to prosecution. 

 Another storage of medical equipment in Omraniyah in Giza was raided yesterday where security forces said they found “20 liters of alcohol and 15,000 masks of unknown origin.” The owner was also arrested and referred to prosecution.

Even as 23,500 masks were confiscated from informal manufacturers, elsewhere, nominal donations of medical gear and masks were praised. “Polyplast donates 1,800 face shields to Tahya Misr fund,” reads a headline in the privately-owned Al-Mal newspaper.  

• In the meantime, the World Health Organization is warning of an unfolding global crisis due to extreme shortages in medical oxygen supplies, essential in caring for COVID-19 patients in critical conditions who develop respiratory problems, as cases continue to climb exponentially worldwide.

• Staff at the French Qasr Al-Aini Hospital will receive 50 percent discounts for healthcare provided to their first degree relatives, the president of Cairo University announced yesterday.

• A second drive through testing location has been inaugurated in New Cairo at the American University, the Prime Speed Medical company has announced. A plan to inaugurate 10 more testing locations in 30 days is ongoing, a number that is intended to climb to 25 in 60 days.
   
• The mayor of Rahmaniyah was sacked on Wednesday, a day after the government razed an informal field hospital set up by residents to treat those self-isolating at home.

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Who cares for healthcare workers?

-Dr. Sayed al-Kashef, the director of the Qena Fever Hospital, tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, a source at the hospital tells Cairo24.

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Working with COVID-19

As the Cabinet pushes hard to kickstart the economy on July 1 by reopening several businesses, state employers are responding differently.

 After Madbuly delegated to ministers the decision on whether or not to continue operations with reduced labor power, which was enforced as a protective measure back in March, the Justice Ministry announced all courts and authorities in the judicial system would be back at work in full force starting Monday. The Local Administration Ministry, however, decided to continue work with only 25 percent of its labor force “until further notice.” In turn, the Military Production Ministry decided to focus more on ensuring the accuracy and safety of its protection protocols, which include distributing face masks to workers daily, and contracting a doctor from the Health Insurance Authority to provide consultations via WhatsApp for workers who show symptoms. 

In the meantime, those working in the informal sector are currently receiving the second payout of the informal labor grant. Thursday marks the deadline to collect June’s grant.