Egypt's health ministry spokesperson Khaled Megahed has announced that coronavirus cases have been detected in 24 out of the country's 27 governorates since the first case was discovered in Egypt in mid-February. The health ministry announced four new coronavirus fatalities on Sunday, the highest death toll from the virus recorded in one day in the country. The ministry also announced 33 new cases of the virus, bringing the total to 327 and the total deaths to 14. During a phone call with Sada El-Balad talk show on Sunday, Megahed praised the efforts of doctors and medical staff all over the country, and said that more cases are being detected because testing is being implemented on a wider scale. “The daily increase or decline in [reported] infections or deaths cannot be considered at this moment to be a metric for the spread of the virus,” Megahed said, stressing that “we are still in the second stage” of the outbreak. He explained that the “second stage,” or the “cluster of cases” phase, means that the country is still able to track the contagion. Megahed also stressed that the government is ready and prepared to deal with the coronavirus on all levels. "Egypt has not entered the third and critical stage of the virus' spread; however, we are ready to deal with this scenario," he added. Megahed asserted that the country is abiding perfectly by the World Health Organisation's (WHO) instructions on all things related to the coronavirus, and called on citizens to seriously commit to preventive measures to avoid entering the third stage of the outbreak, describing this as a “decisive factor” in efforts to combat the spread of the virus.
