Egypt’s Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly has stressed the need for the continued use of precautionary and preventive measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
He also stressed the need to maintain the country’s success in decreasing the number of cases of the virus.
Madbouly reviewed the situation regarding the pandemic’s current status in the country during a meeting, on Monday, with Minister of Health Hala Zayed and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel Ghaffar.
On Monday, the Ministry of Health reported 115 new coronavirus cases, and 13 new fatalities. The country’s total number of confirmed cases reached 96,590, with 5,173 fatalities. A total of 60,651 cases have recovered and been discharged from quarantine facilities at hospitals.
Also present at the meeting were: Dr Mohamed Awad Tag El-Din, Adviser to the President of the Republic for Preventive and Health Affairs; Chairperson of the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) Tamer Essam; and Bahaa Zidan, Chairperson of the Egyptian Authority for Unified Procurement and Medical Supplies.
In remarks made at the meeting, Zayed briefed the attendees on her ministry’s efforts to secure a vaccine for the coronavirus. She pointed out that a national committee to supervise the clinical trials for the produced vaccines has been formed, and that it is providing regular reports for review by the cabinet medical group chaired by the prime minister.
“The committee involves representatives from the Ministries of Health, Higher Education, and Justice, as well as representatives from the Armed Forces and the EDA,” she said.
Regarding the awaited reopening of schools and universities, Zayed explained that she is studying many scenarios for the precautionary measures that will be discussed with the concerned ministers.
For his part, Abdel Ghaffar said that his ministry will maintain the full number of university isolation hospitals until September. He added that a plan for dealing with a potential second wave of the virus has been prepared at his ministry.
Abdel Ghaffar noted that university hospitals will gradually resume surgical operations in the coming weeks as the coronavirus crisis gradually comes to a halt.
