Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

DCD, EMRO Reveals COVID-19 Situation in Egypt


Mon 30 Mar 2020 | 03:55 PM
Ahmad El-Assasy

On 14 February 2020, Egypt reported the first case of COVID-19 to WHO. Since then, the Ministry of Health and Population has been very busy responding to the situation, including the investigation of a number of chains of infections in Aswan in Luqsor.

End of March, the Ministry asked WHO to conduct an independent review of the situation in order to make suggestions for a better response. From 23 to 25 March last week, I led a WHO team that worked in the field and with the health officials in Cairo and in Alexandria. I would like to share today our findings, along with some recommendations.

As of 29 March 2020, Egypt had reported 609 cases of COVID-19. The response to COVID-19 has been strong

and adapted to the current situation.

The number of new cases over time suggests that transmission is limited to chains of infections and we have not seen a steep rise in the number of cases. There are a number of strong points in the response for which we congratulated the Ministry.

First, the overall management is well organized, including an Emergency Operation Centre coordinating the response on the basis of the latest epidemiological information and a call center in touch with the public.

Second, rapid response teams are conducting careful investigations of cases and their contacts. And this is very important because it breaks the chains of transmission.

Third, there is a capacity to test patients in a reliable way in more than 20 sites in the country.

Fourth, there is a plan to provide care to patients. Finally, a lot of different media are used to provide the public with updates, education, and information.

When we debriefed her excellency the Ministry, we discussed openly and came to an agreement with her

and her team with respect to the directions to take in the coming days.

We agreed that we need to continue to act for the best scenario. This means continuing to search for cases everywhere. We must test persons with cough and fever, and when we come across cases, we need to provide care and isolation.

We also need to trace contacts. We must do that everywhere and without giving up, even if the numbers increase.

By doing so, we have a real opportunity to stop transmission. Unfortunately, there is also a scenario by which

transmission could expand leading to a large number of cases in the country. While we are doing everything

to avoid that, we also need to be prepared for that possibility.

That means planning for more isolation facilities for mild cases, more hospital beds for severe cases, and more intensive care beds for critical patients.

And all of this needs to be done with strong infection control measures for families, clinics, isolation facilities, and hospitals.

Now today I also have a message for all the persons living in Egypt, whether Egyptian or like me foreign

residents. Collectively, we have must work together to stop this outbreak, and we all have our role.

So, along with the colleagues of the Ministry of Health and Population, we would like to count on you for three things. First, protect yourself and your family.

Wash your hands, abstain to touch your nose, your mouth and your eyes, and in these difficult times, you want to be close to people in your hearts, but far away with your hands.

Second, inform yourself with reliable information. Prefer sources like the WHO or the Ministry of Health and Population.

Do not listen to self-proclaimed experts who share random information on social media. Third, help us in the task of finding all cases. So if you or your loved one develop fever and cough, please call 105 to seek care. Thank you very much for your help in this.

Together with you, all health care workers, the Ministry of Health and Population and WHO, we can defeat this in Egypt.