Daily COVID-19 roundup: June 3

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Here are the latest figures on COVID-19 as of Tuesday, June 3:

Doctors threatened with military trial, disciplinary measures as government counters absences with heavy hand

Doctors have been threatened with the possibility of military trial for non-compliance with government instructions, according to a Tuesday report published by Al-Manassa, which comes as strict measures are rolled out to regulate healthcare workers’ shifts and to bar them from taking leave.

Medical staff have been one of the groups hit hardest by COVID-19, with news of new positive cases and deaths among hospital workers coming in daily.

 Al-Manassa described the situation for doctors at the Delengat Hospital, Beheira, where the hospital director and a Health Ministry deputy sent threatening messages to doctors, saying that disobedience would be met with severe consequences and potentially military prosecution. The doctors were told to treat COVID-19 cases regardless of their speciality, and to evacuate patients from governorate hospitals in preparation to receive COVID-19 patients.  

Al-Manassa publishes extracts from voice notes sent by local deputy to the Health Ministry Yosri Bayoumy, who told all doctors without exception to work with coronavirus cases “even if they were dead tired,” adding that “those who ran away [...] will come back whether they like it or not."

In a very literal interpretation of the “white soldier” analogy used to describe doctors in the media, Bayoumy called on all doctors to join the battle against COVID-19 even if it cost them their lives, and that “anyone who escapes from battle is a treacherous soldier, and will suffer the most severe of penalties." 

Hospital Director Reda Bakr reiterated the threats, mentioning that repercussions could lead to a military trial, since “we are in a state of emergency, and even those on sick leave will have to return, one way or another, don't ask me how.” He later told Al-Manassa that he didn’t mean the comments as a threat, and was seeking only to “motivate” his colleagues.

The news from Beheira on Tuesday comes as the government acts on health staffing with an increasingly heavy hand.

Official instructions were issued to governors on Monday to deal strictly with doctors not attending work, and to prevent doctors from being granted leave for the coming two months, with the PM prompting the governors to monitor the situation at hospitals through regular inspections. Hospital directors were also instructed to provide lists of absent doctors on Sunday.

Seemingly as per the PM’s instructions, the governor of Cairo paid a surprise visit to Manshiyet al-Bakry Hospital on Tuesday. Doctors halted work at the Manshiyet al-Bakry Hospital before Eid, citing negligence on the part of hospital administration, overcrowding, delays in testing and an outbreak of as many as 29 COVID-19 cases from among staff before the hospital began admitting suspected cases on short notice.  

Health Minister Hala Zayed also paid a surprise visit to the Abbasiya Fever Hospital, on Tuesday; located in the same complex as the Abbasiya Chest Hospital where 52 hospital workers contracted the virus. Mada Masr has reported that the hospital had sent to the ministry requesting back up to supply staff deficiencies. Zayed didn’t comment on the crisis at the Abbasiya Hospital during Tuesday’s visit.

Outside hospitals in the pages of the privately-owned Al-Watan newspaper, a sinister op-ed published Tuesday accused activist and former Doctors Syndicate deputy head Mona Mina of affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is registered as a terrorist organization in Egypt.

Tensions between healthcare workers and the government have mounted over the course of the pandemic, reaching a peak over the Eid holiday following the death of 32-year-old Dr. Walid Yehia Abdel Halim as he was waiting for a PCR test and a hospital bed. Abdel Halim’s death culminated in the resignation of the entire medical staff of Mounira Hospital, as doctors demanded better access to testing for those who had come into contact with COVID-19 patients, while objecting to lifting the lockdown post-Eid.

Staff at Mounira Hospital walked back the decision following a meeting with Health Ministry officials and a member of the National Security Agency.

Other top news items related to COVID-19 that made it to the headlines in Thursday’s press include:

• After the Cabinet reacted verbally on Monday to extortionate fees for COVID-19 treatment at private hospitals, the government capped pricing on Tuesday. 
  • Health Minister Hala Zayed sent a directive to Nehal al-Shaer, who heads the Central Directorate for Private Sector Healthcare and Medical Licenses, setting a cap on the costs of COVID-19 tests and treatment at:
    • LE1,500-3,000 per day for lower-level quarantine services
    • LE5,000-7,000 per day for ICU patients who do not need ventilators
    • LE7,500-10,000 per day for ICU patients who need ventilators
       
• Parliamentarians pointed to gaps in how the government has rolled out rules on mandatory mask-wearing since Friday, as well as on the persistent problems in processing COVID-19 patients at hospitals
  • MP Mohamed Foad said the provision of face masks and medical supplies is currently unregulated and noted that there are not enough masks available despite the government's efforts to cap prices thus far. He added that the pricing decisions are not being implemented sufficiently.
  • MP Amal Rizkallah proposed a LE4,000 fine for fake mask-vendors. She noted that since May 30, when authorities began enforcing the law on mask-wearing in public, the market has been flooded with masks that don’t meet health standards due to low stocks at pharmacies. The fake masks are recycled from unsterilized used masks, which Rizkallah warned could cause a public health crisis.
  • MP Dalia Youssef  questioned why COVID-19 patients are facing delays when seeking treatment and asked the PM why many have been unable to get hospital beds even though beds are reportedly available
     
• Elsewhere, news around expanding hospital capacity persisted in statements from governments and health officials on Tuesday:
  • MP Dina Abdel Aziz filed an urgent statement calling for the government to requisition disused private hospitals and convert them into quarantine hospitals. She said “there are hundreds of hospitals not working due to conflicts between owners, licensing issues, or medical violations. These can be temporarily included as isolation hospitals under the Health Ministry’s supervision”
  • A plan to draft chest hospitals into the corps of hospitals dedicated to treating coronavirus was announced by Wagdy Amin, who heads the Health Ministry’s General Department for Chest Disease. Amin said the plan would take place over three phases, with phase one pulling in an initial nine of Egypt’s 34 chest hospitals. Phase two would involve five more hospitals, and the third a further four. Commenting on the rate of infection, Amin said “the rate of the increase in numbers [of new cases] is accelerating, but nobody can determine if we have hit the peak or not unless the figures fall for two consecutive weeks.”
     
• Several news items in Tuesday’s press also showed MPs raising questions around localizing the response to COVID-19, after governors received instructions from the PM in a Monday meeting on how to roll out the COVID-19 response on the ground.
  • MP Hala Mestekly a member of the Select Committee for Health, called for definite figures on how many COVID-19 cases have affected each governorate, in order to better understand how the virus has spread. She said this would allow officials to get a clearer idea of areas of high concentration, and to figure out solutions accordingly.
  • MP Ayman Aboul Ella called for continued efforts to sterilize and disinfect orphanages, and homes for the elderly or people with special needs.

Who cares for healthcare workers?

• Even as doctors look set to face harsh disciplinary measures from authorities striding in to monitor attendance, three more health workers were reported to have died of COVID-19 on Tuesday, while the Pharmacists Syndicate once again flagged problems their members had faced in accessing space at isolation hospitals.
  • The three health workers deceased due to COVID-19 on Tuesday were:
    • A urology consultant from Monufiya, Dr. Abdel-Azim Abu Al-Hassan
    • Gynecologist Dr.  Alrawi Abdelghani Ismail, who headed the Health Directorate at the district of Abul Hamad, Sharqiya
    • A lab technician for the Desouk Health Directorate, who died at the Baltim Isolation Hospital 
  • The Pharmacists Syndicate called for an isolation hospital with a 100-bed capacity to be dedicated to their members. The syndicate noted that four pharmacists have died of the coronavirus thus far, and that several more have tested positive, in a Tuesday message to the PM. 
  • A Tuesday update to a case in which several local residents are charged with trying to prevent the burial of a doctor in Daqahlia saw 42 defendants referred by State Security Prosecution to state security criminals court in Mansoura. The case prompted discussion at the time around misunderstanding and awareness of how COVID-19 is transmitted.

Working with COVID-19

• Work was suspended at several sites on Tuesday due to outbreaks among staff and insufficient hygiene regulations.
  • Work is to be temporarily suspended at a number of companies in 10th of Ramadan City, following an announcement from the governor of Sharqiya, who said he “would not allow the virus to spread amongst workers.” Meanwhile, a Sharqiya deputy to the Manpower Ministry said that eight out of 33 companies inspected at 10th of Ramadan City were found not to have adhered to hygiene precautions.
  • Offices at the Assiut Supply Directorate were closed for one day’s sterilization after an employee was suspected to have contracted COVID-19.
  • Two employees at CIB, Egypt’s largest private bank, have died of COVID-19. Four branches have since been closed for sterilization.
  • Mohamed Orabi, head of the Mines and Quarry Workers Union has died of COVID-19 in Sharqiya. Manpower Minister Mohamed Saafan mourned Orabi’s death. 
• A spate of infections and deaths continued on Tuesday among media practitioners, prompting some professional organizations to seek better protection for workers on Tuesday
  • The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper decided to give employees with COVID-19 symptoms immediate leave, after which the employee would undergo scans, blood tests, and a PCR test and treatment if COVID-19 infection is still suspected.
  • National Press institute announced a breakdown of how COVID-19 has affected employees at state-owned newspapers:
    • 40 cases were confirmed.
    • A further 43 cases are suspected.
    • One employee was confirmed to have died.

Stuck outside

• In news on Egyptians stranded abroad during the global lockdown, the minister for civil aviation denied in a phone interview with the MBC channel that he had canceled the quarantine period for Egyptians returning home. The EgyptAir chief said Tuesday that he expected the current system would soon be replaced with home quarantine. 
• Kuwait is to grant three-month temporary residencies to Egyptians whose visas expire in June, the Manpower Ministry announced. 
• 464 Egyptians who were working in Kuwait arrived back in Egypt today. 
• The Aviation Ministry programmed seven exceptional flights over the next three days to repatriate 1,400 Egyptians stranded in Lebanon.