Daily COVID-19 roundup: June 21
 
 

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 Saturday, June 20:

New cases Recovered New deaths
1,547 406 89
Current cases Total cases Total deaths
35,873 53,758 2,106

 

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

Exam season begins

  • Over 600,000 students are scheduled to sit thanaweya amma exams this morning, despite pushback over the past month from MPs and the Doctors Syndicate against the consequences of going ahead in the peak of the pandemic.
  • In a last-ditch attempt to prevent the exams from proceeding, the Doctors Syndicate petitioned the PM, the education minister and the speaker on Thursday, warning that even with all the precautions in place it was likely that “at best” around 1,000 students would contract the coronavirus per day. Each infected student could transmit the virus to their whole family, warned Hussein Khairy, head of the syndicate, warning that the already strained healthcare system “would not withstand” this kind of increase.
  • Yet, Parliament’s Education Committee has said it’s certain that all the precautions are present and correct, while the Interior Ministry added that it had sterilized and prepared examination sites for detainees who will be sitting the exams from prison.
  • Although a teacher named Ibrahim Hamad Hassan is reported to have died due to COVID-19, and reports over last week suggested that teachers were rushing to back out of participating in the exams, the Cabinet Media Center has stepped in to deny that teachers have been seeking leave during the exams at a higher rate than usual.

 

The economic pandemic

  • Data on how the pandemic has affected consumption, behavior and income over the past three months was published this weekend by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, revealing widespread economic distress in the wake of COVID-19:
     

    • 17% of families currently rely on charity to make ends meet
    • 73.5% of Egypt’s population reported reduced income since the outset of the pandemic 
    • 48.2% of families expect their income to decrease over the next three months
    • Only 5.4% rely on the state’s irregular labor grant
    • 18.1% are irregular workers 
    • 55.7% of Egypt’s labor force is working fewer hours
    • 26.2% have lost their jobs permanently over the last three months
    • Unemployment had increased to 9.2% in April, a 1.4% increase compared to March according to CAPMAS, whose employment stats are not equivalent to official employment figures
    • Almost half of Egyptian families reported that they are borrowing to meet their needs
    • Only a quarter of the population reported a steady flow of income since March
       
  • Alongside the news from CAPMAS, more news this weekend broke on the thousands of workers who have returned to Egypt after losing their jobs abroad. Migration Minister Nabila Makram and Planning Minister Hala al-Saeed sat down over the weekend to discuss how to collect data on the workers in order to absorb them into the labor market. Age, qualifications, and years of experience are among the criteria, and the ministries are forming a joint working group to handle the plan.

 

Minister goes into quarantine 

  • Information Minister Osama Heikal is self-isolating after he showed “mild” symptoms after coming into contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case. Youth and Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhy and head of the Egyptian Football League Amr al-Gananiny had met with Heikal just a few days before he started to show symptoms.

 

Medication hotspot becomes hub for infection 

  • Ramsis, a transit hub for commuters, has become an epicenter for infections, MP Inas Abdel Halim has claimed. The MP put the chain of infections down to crowding outside a major public pharmacy authorized by the Health Ministry to distribute COVID-19 drugs, particularly azithromycin.

 

Who cares for the healthcare workers?

  • In news of how coronavirus affected workers on the front lines of the response to the pandemic over the weekend:
    • Many doctors appear to have died due to COVID-19 over the weekend. According to recent remarks from Dr. Ibrahim al-Zayat, the death toll has reached 85 in total since the pandemic began.
    • Nine names of deceased doctors were published in the press this weekend, including Omar Abdel Rafie, Hisham Saeed, Mostafa Zaiton, Tareq Mohamed Ashour,  Magdy Noshy, Emad Habib, Rami Karim El-Deeb, Ahmed Fathi Awad, and Michael Wageeh.
    • Gamal Fathi, a receptionist at the Health Directorate of Sharqiya, has died of COVID-19.
    • As has pharmacist Abdel-Rahman Elewa, the owner of the Eliwa Pharmacy in the center of Farshout.
    • Afaf Barghash, a nurse at the Damanhour Teaching Hospital, also died of COVID-19. 
    • Dentist Amr Shobaka died yesterday of COVID-19.
    • According to a statement published two days ago on Assiut University’s social media page, 193 paramedics and nurses had tested positive for COVID-19 at the university over the last three months — over 51% of the staff who were tested.
    • Infections among paramedics have since risen to 204, six of whom have died, the Paramedics Syndicate said.
    • More than half of the ICU nursing staff at Kafr al-Sheikh General Hospital have tested positive for COVID-19. Out of 25 nurses, 16 reportedly tested positive after coming into contact with a heart disease patient. Once again, staff have reported management’s unwillingness to test medical staff.
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