Egypt's Coronavirus Cases Exceed 20,700

Egypt confirmed on Thursday 1,127 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily record so far, bringing the total cases to 20,793.

"Twenty-nine more deaths were confirmed; raising the total number to 845," Khaled Megahed, the Health Ministry’s spokesman, said in a statement.

"Up to 5,359 coronavirus patients have recovered so far," the spokesman said.

"As many as 154 Egyptians were among the recovered patients today," he added.

Also, the number of coronavirus patients who had now been retested for the virus and had received negative results has reached 6,019 after getting proper treatment in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO).

Megahed revealed that there are governorates which witnessed a decline in the number of daily infection like Port Said, South Sinai, Damietta, and the Red Sea, while Cairo and Giza governorates are the highest.

Earlier, Health Minister Hala Zayed said each isolation hospital will have 20 beds allocated for the doctors in case of their infection with the virus along with providing the hospitals with the needed medical equipment.

Zayed mentioned that 30% of the pandemic deaths had died before checking in at the isolation hospitals.

"About 94% of the deaths were in the age group of over 50," Zayed pointed out, adding: "22% of the confirmed cases are in the age group of 50 to 59."

"100% of the deceased had chronic diseases and tumors," the minister affirmed.

Earlier, Dr. John Jabbour, the WHO representative, noted that in Egypt, 85% of the positive cases had recovered without treatment because their symptoms were simple, he said.

According to him, Egypt faces many challenges, topped by coordinating among all the health-related sectors and making the best use of the state's revenues in the fight against the pandemic, in addition to addressing the social stigma associated with the disease and supporting the medical staff who are standing on the front-lines and risking their own lives to treat infected patients.

The WHO official urged all the people to follow protective measures and stay at home to protect themselves and their loved ones against the disease.

The ministry has stepped up precautionary measures in the affected governorates and intensified campaigns to spread awareness about infectious diseases.

Megahed stressed that the ministry announced all positive and suspected cases nationwide.

The ministry raises its preparedness at all the country’s ports and airports to monitor the virus developments, receiving inquires from citizens about the virus through its hotline 105 or 15335.