Starting 21 May, all general hospitals in Egypt will provide coronavirus testing, Egypt's Health Minister Hala Zayed announced on Wednesday. During the weekly cabinet meeting headed by PM Mostafa Madbouly, Zayed announced that 320 hospitals will be receiving patients suffering COVID-19 symptoms. “The hospitals will conduct clinical examinations as well as run blood tests and chest x-rays, and if the test results come back negative, the patient will be discharged with medications for the symptoms. If the tests come back positive, a PCR test will be conducted and the case will be evaluated to determine if it is mild, moderate or severe,” Minister Zayed said. Patients with mild symptoms will be isolated at home and will be given masks, disinfectants and some medicines. “The patient will be followed up on remotely through a new electronic system,” the minister said, adding that the ministry has been implementing the home isolation system for mild cases since 14 May. Moderate cases will be sent to youth hostels or student hospitals, a measure the health ministry adopted since early May. “The severe cases, which are subdivided into high, extreme and critical, will be sent to a quarantine hospital,” the minister said. Egypt has recorded 14,229 cases of coronavirus so far, including 680 fatalities and 3,994 fully recovered patients.
