Daily COVID-19 roundup: June 29

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 28:

Working with COVID-19 

Zamalek SC, usually a contender for top spot in the Egyptian Premier League, announced it will be suspending training indefinitely after players were panicked by confirmation that goalkeeper Mohamed Badawy has tested positive for COVID-19.

Joining Zamalek SC on Sunday was the Border Guard football team, one of the clubs of Egypt’s Armed Forces, which has canceled a training camp after several of its players were also diagnosed with the virus.

The Egyptian Football Association says that 18 club members have tested positive for COVID-19 since it instructed all of Egypt’s teams to get tested before the league resumes. Tanta SC is still the worst-affected club thus far, with five positive cases, though several of the smaller teams were early to announce they would not be fielding players for the remainder of the championship. 

Financial struggles have proved as much of a barrier as fear of infection in preventing some clubs from getting back on the pitch, with Tanta SC coach Ayman al-Muzzain saying last week that “the difference in clubs’ financial capacities has not been taken into consideration since there will be a problem if a player is infected,” asking “What will we do for the rest of the team?” 

For Zamalek SC though, it’s likely to be more a question of tactics, as they’re currently sitting down below their comfort zone in fourth place. Arch-rivals Al-Ahly, who are currently top of the league with 42 points after 17 games, have been among the more zealous to return to stadiums.

Regardless of some clubs bowing out of this year’s championship, the Egyptian Football Association is still on course to make an announcement this Thursday to reveal when the Egyptian Premier League will resume. 

Though clubs have proved wary of getting back to the game with the pandemic still very much ongoing, teenagers taking thanaweya amma exams and the teachers proctoring the tests haven’t had so much space to hesitate, despite the crowds of students and parents posing a high risk of infection. A couple of the staff overseeing the exams were reportedly rushed to hospital with COVID-19 symptoms on Sunday, when teenagers gathered for their applied mathematics exam, while a few other professionals who’ve been working through the pandemic also reported infection: 

• An exam supervisor and a legal professional working on the exam committees for Monufiya were hospitalized on Sunday after being suspected of having COVID-19.
• Editor-in-chief of Al-Bawaba News and MP Abdel Rahim Ali tested positive for COVID-19 while on a business trip to France. According to Al-Bawaba, Ali has been admitted to an ICU in Paris.
• MP Hassan Abul Makrem, who represents an electoral district in Minya, tested positive for COVID-19 and has isolated himself at home.
• A civil defense officer from Sohag died from COVID-19 yesterday. The 59-year-old contracted the disease a week ago and was receiving treatment at the Police Hospital in Nasr City. 

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Who’s profiting from the pandemic?  

Government trade and investment promoters are zeroing in on vulnerability in food security across the Gulf as an opportunity for Egypt to cash in from the change in market conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s unclear whether the opportunity to cash in on agricultural exports to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will compensate for the thousands of lost jobs and pay cuts suffered by Egyptian laborers who were employed in the Gulf when the pandemic hit. 

Al-Mal, the privately owned financial daily, reports on a Sunday meeting between representatives of the Egyptian Commercial Service — a government agency promoting trade and investment — who spoke to their colleagues in Egypt via videoconference from Dubai, Jeddah and Kuwait City on Sunday.

According to Al-Mal, the trade value between Egypt and the UAE has doubled year-on-year to about US$750 million in the first quarter of 2020, while agriculture exports to Saudi Arabia have increased by 41% in the same period up to 418,000 tons at a value of $117 million.

Likely looking to gain insight on where to direct investments, the non-governmental Egyptian Association for Businesspeople was also represented in the Sunday meeting, with chair Ali Issa pointing out that the UAE is the largest investor in Egypt, followed by Saudi and Kuwait. 

Egyptian investors with ready capital have likewise been buying into the market while stocks were low. Bayt El Khebra Group chairman Khaled Abdallah has acquired substantial shares in several sectors, according to coverage from the privately owned Youm7. Abdallah clearly agrees that food security is the way to go, as he purchased over 5% of the Ismailia National Company for Food Industries (FOODICO). He’s also acquired shares in several tourist companies, including over 10% of Misr Hotels at the value of LE15 million, and over 10% of Sharm Dreams for Tourist Investment. Elsewhere, Abdallah acquired around 13% of Mohandes Insurance for LE121 million via the BEK Group subsidiary, Technolease and almost 13% of the Real Estate Egyptian Consortium for LE15 million.

Yet an ECS representative from Dubai indicated the scale of the impact the pandemic has had on Egyptian laborers in the Gulf. Around 500,000 Egyptian workers in the UAE have been affected by furloughs, he said, while others have been laid off altogether. Speaking from Jeddah, another representative said that pay cuts, furloughs and layoffs have affected around 1.5 million Egyptian workers in Saudi Arabia.

While a government initiative to create jobs for repatriated Egyptians is still in the data collection phase, MPs are already eyeing the foreign currency savings of those newly returned to Egypt. MP Mona al-Shabrawy recommended that the prime minister and immigration minister look into establishing a government holding company as a vehicle for these workers’ investments, the privately owned Masrawy reported last week.

Others reaping profits from the pandemic are medical insurers.

With clients wary of visiting healthcare providers for non-COVID-19 complaints, demand for payouts has plummeted.

Fee payouts by Inaya medical insurance company fell by 20% in April and 10% in May, said Chairman Sherif Fathy, according to Al-Mal. The drop in claims is expected to cut the company’s losses significantly, said Fathy. Fatma Zein, a business development manager at Med Gulf likewise said that claims have dropped off significantly, pointing to flight suspensions as an additional salve to the sector as wealthier clients have used domestic hospitals instead of traveling abroad for treatment as they would have done in the past.

 Meanwhile film theaters, which have reopened at 25% capacity, continue to sustain losses, as do film producers. The Chamber of Film Industry called for postponing the opening to July 24 in order to allow for raising the capacity to 50%, reports Cairo24. The Eid season films have all failed at the box offices as filmgoers fear contagion in closed spaces, despite a reopening on Saturday.

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Who cares for healthcare workers?

Legislation that would increase by 75% the allowance available to medical workers who get sick on the job was reviewed yesterday in the House of Representatives, after the president ordered the increase when the pandemic began in March.

Yet the boost still isn’t commensurate with the level of risk that doctors go through, according to a statement issued by the Doctors Syndicate at the time. 

At present, an allowance worth only LE400 to LE700 per month is available to physicians, dentists, pharmacists, veterinarians, physiotherapists, nursing staff, chemists, physicists and medical technicians. The bill would push this up from LE700 to LE1,225.

Details of the bill to raise the value of the compensation emerged on Sunday and are reproduced by the privately owned financial news website Al-Mal, after Parliament’s Health Affairs Committee reviewed it in the House. 

The draft law would also create a risk fund for medical workers, to be paid out as welfare support for medical workers and their families in the case of the workers’ being injured or killed on the job. It would also see the retirement age for doctors go up from 60 to 65. 

At the head of the new risk fund’s board will be the health minister, while members will include the ministers of higher education, finance and social solidarity as well as the head of the Financial Regulatory Authority and a representative of the State Council.

Pressure from the coronavirus pandemic has put a spotlight on poor conditions for healthcare workers that existed long before COVID-19 and have led to an exodus of doctors seeking better pay outside the country.

Speaker Ali Abdel Aal recently alluded to the pull for healthcare professionals to leave the country, after he received a bill drafted by the Cabinet that would increase the pay scale for doctors in next year’s budget earlier this month.

Despite the gesture from Cabinet and the president to improve the financial resources available to healthcare professionals, doctors have continued to express their frustration with inadequate provision of health and personal protective equipment, a lack of beds and most recently, the lack of support from government, even as doctors are on the front line of the country’s COVID-19 response.  

Other developments in Sunday’s news alluded to new field hospitals that could add to capacity in the health system, even as a raft of existing facilities were shut down for failing to adhere to Health Ministry standards:

• Five field hospitals have been set up by the Armed Forces in addition to the much publicized field hospital at the New Cairo exhibition center. Where the hospitals are or when they’ll be operating hasn’t been disclosed.
   
• Health authorities in Gharbiya have shut down 19 medical facilities, including six clinics, nine labs, three medical centers and a private hospital, due to licensing irregularities and “grave violations” of the COVID-19 protocols.
   
• A learning platform to instruct doctors on infection control measures and treatment protocols for COVID-19 will be created in a partnership between the Health Ministry and the Princess Fatma Academy for Medical Education.