Egypt’s Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad reviewed on Monday the ministry’s efforts to combat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) since March.
The ministry has introduced a 4-element plan including providing safe disposal of medical waste, creating a special system for dealing with solid waste, monitoring the environmental situation of pollution hotspots, and spreading environmental awareness.
Regarding the safe disposal of medical waste, Fouad said in a statement that teams from the ministry have visited 1,537 medical facilities since March, in order to follow up on the medical waste management, in cooperation with health directorates in governorates and directors of university hospitals.
She added that the Ministry of Environment is coordinating with the ministries of health and higher education to ensure the correct separation of medical waste from municipal solid waste to reduce the amount of waste generated and deal with it safely.
The minister further added that 68 trainees belong to the Ministry of Health in 16 governorates have received training on the sustainable management of medical waste. She pointed out that her ministry is also cooperating with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities regarding medical and solid waste management in hotels allocated for quarantining COVID-19 patients.
According to the statement, the Environment Ministry is coordinating with the Local Development Ministry to provide hygiene guidelines for waste collectors.
Moreover, Fouad indicated that the country is doing well in regard with air quality and noise pollution.
