Egypt continues combating the spread of the deadly coronavirus

Write: Yara Elkerm

Credit: Google image

Alexandria-Egypt continues to maintain on-going efforts to curb the spread of the novel

coronavirus through strict measures.

After conducting such an informational interview with Mister Samir el Bathikky, Member of

Parliament for East Alex and Sidi Gaber District about the different roles of the army,

government ,local government, NGOS and public in which he explained the comprehensive plan

of the government to fight the novel virus before spreading out I found out that the

department of chemical war in the army took over sanitizing all public places such as schools,

universities, hospitals and all offices offering services to the public.

The first step of the government was to send a plane to Wuhan china (the first city with Corona

cases in China) to let the Egyptians there return to their homeland. They were taken to the first

quarantine hospital in Negila ,Matrouh where they underwent a complete medical checkup

and were quarantined for fourteen days although all results of their analysis were negative.

Then they all went back home safe.

The first two cases of coronavirus detected were foreigners, a Nile cruise with tourists in Luxor

and a Canadian engineer in Khalda Petroleum Company. Both groups were quarantined for 14

days, the tourists on the ship and the engineer and all the workers working on the camp after

being offered all the needed medical help till all their results were negative.

President Sisi set 100 milliard Egyptian pounds to stop the spread of the virus and to deal with

it, God forbids, should it spread out. Important economic decisions were taken by the

government to counteract the negative influence of the virus on the public and the economy.

All fees on credit card transactions were cancelled, the installments for loans were postponed

and many other measures to ease the financial stress on the public.

All schools, universities and institutions were closed down and substituted with online learning

for which the government added a free 20percent on all internet bundles to facilitate the

interaction between tutors and pupils/students. All mothers with school children working in the

public sector were given paid leave to be able to take care of them.

On another level most companies, banks, factories etc. decreased their working force by

50percent giving the other half paid leave to lessen the crowd in the work place. This measure

is applied in turns in order not to harm the flow of the businesses.

The prime minister banned the water pipe from all cafes. Shortly after that all cafes, shops and

restaurants were closed as from 7pm with the exception of pharmacies, supermarkets and

bakeries. As more cases were diagnosed with coronavirus a curfew was set from 7pm to 6am.

As for Fridays and Saturdays everything is closed except supermarkets outside malls and

pharmacies and whoever disobeys the rules pays a fine of 4000 pounds.

The minister of health flew to china to benefit from their experience in fighting the virus. China

sent Egypt 1000 appliances that are used to detect the virus.

All airports and ports were closed down to stop the virus from spreading with incoming

travelers especially after it got out of control in several European counties, Italy, Spain and

France and of course the USA on top of the list. Before the complete closure of the airports and

ports strong measures were applied to detect any cases and a 14-day follow-up on the phone

was done with all incomers to help them should any symptoms of the virus appear after their

arrival. Yet the stopping of aviation did not mean leaving Egyptians stranded abroad. For this

goal airplanes were sent to bring them home with strict measures taken upon their arrival to

ensure their and their families’ safety. They sign a paper agreeing to spend 14 days in

quarantine before going home. Right now the quarantine is in Meridian airport hotel.

The local government also played a role to help in applying all measures to fight the virus. Each

governorate prepared a quarantine hospital and equipped it with all the needed staff and

appliances. After all schools, universities and institutions were closed down they also closed

down all centers for private lessons, all gyms, PlayStation cafes to stop the youth from meeting

in big numbers. Also all clubs and sports facilities were closed. Some shops trespassed the

curfew and the police had no choice but to close them down immediately.

When we come to talk about the NGOS and public that we are all part of we can clearly see that

everyone is somehow trying to help whether on social media where everyone keeps posting

useful information about the virus, precautions on how to stop it or how most people are

working and training online.

People’s awareness of the virus is getting better each day. Each one of us is trying to help the

simple people around him (servants, doorman, security, delivery) by giving them advice on their

personal hygiene and how to avoid busy places. Many families gave their domestic help paid

leave to protect themselves and protect them.