Egypt’s coronavirus cases rise to 465, pandemic accelerates globally 

Mohammed El-Said
4 Min Read

Egypt reported 54 new coronavirus cases and one new death on Wednesday, raising the country’s total to of 456 infected cases and 21 deaths. The number of recovered cases of the pandemic known as (COVID-19) has increased to 93 cases, according to Minister of Health Hala Zayed.

In a Wednesday press conference, Zayed said that the EGP 1bn allocated will be spent mainly for securing the medical equipment and the required tools for the health system. She added that “Egypt is in the second phase of the outbreak in which we can contain the contagion.”

“21 laboratories nationwide are dedicated to conducting coronavirus medical tests. And the ministry is following the codes and instructions of the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding containing the infection and treating infected cases,” she explained.  

To contain the infection across the nation, the Egyptian government and affiliated bodies have taken several measures. The latest of these measures was imposing a partial curfew from 19:00 to 6:00 starting Wednesday for two weeks, in a bid to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The Egyptian army has also started disinfecting several locations and governmental facilities.

Globally, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases has tripled in less than a month, to more than 450,000 at the time of writing. Whilst more than 20,000 have died owing to the disease and about 112,058 have recovered. 

The disease did not spare public figures and politicians, UK’s Prince Charles was the latest to be infected. The heir to the British throne who was reportedly tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday.

However, the number of cases in Wuhan is declining. The Chinese province was the epicentre where the disease first detected more than three months ago. China total cases registered at 81,661, of whom 73,773 cases have recovered but 3,285 have died. 

The situation in Europe, the new epicentre of the outbreak is worsening. Italy, Spain, Germany, UK, France and Switzerland are continuing to report growing numbers of infected cases.

Italy is still leading the continent in terms of number of infected cases. According to the latest estimations of the John Hopkins University, the number of confirmed cases in Italy has reached 69,176 of whom 8,326 people have recovered. 

What makes the Italian case a significant tragedy is the number of deaths due to the pandemic, as the death toll reached 6,820 cases surpassing China which recorded 3,285 deaths so far. 

Following Rome’s steps, Spain reported the second-highest number of coronavirus deaths worldwide surpassing China as well. The total number of coronavirus deaths in Spain has reached 3,434, while the total confirmed cases are 81,661 of whom 73,773 people have recovered. 

The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States is surging, as 55,238 people have got the infection, of whom only 354 have recovered, while 802 have died. 

Many countries across the world have taken tight measures to contain the COVID-19 spread. Countries like Italy, UK, Spain, India, Belgium, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia as well as other countries have announced a lockdown. 

 

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Mohammed El-Said is the Science Editor for the Daily News Egypt with over 8 years of experience as a journalist. His work appeared in the Science Magazine, Nature Middle East, Scientific American Arabic Edition, SciDev and other regional and international media outlets. El-Said graduated with a bachelor's degree and MSc in Human Geography, and he is a PhD candidate in Human Geography at Cairo University. He also had a diploma in media translation from the American University in Cairo.