Health Minister Hala Zayed met on Friday evening with the medical and administrative staff in the quarantine designated to receive comers from China where the novel coronavirus is spreading rapidly. The meeting came in accordance with presidential orders to bring home Egyptians who want to return from Wuhan, China. Last Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus pandemic a global health emergency, as about 11,649 people were infected and 259 others died. In a statement, Khaled Mogahed, spokesperson for the ministry, said the medical and administrative teams include all specialties; doctors, nursing, computer and information system specialists, administrators, lab technicians, waste monitors in addition to support services. He pointed out that the Minister is following up the preventive measures taken in accordance with WHO guidelines. Mogahed added that the Minister met with medical teams, and reviewed with them the preventive measures within the medical insurance plan developed by the Ministry to address the emerging coronavirus and prevent its entry into the country. Discussions included procedures necessary in the case of suspicion or infection, and how to deal with infected persons when symptoms appeared. Officially known as 2019-nCoV, the virus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses with some causing less-severe disease, such as the common cold, and others causing more severe diseases such as MERS and SARS. Some transmit easily from person to person, while others do not. Symptoms of the virus include fever and cough, and some people should have difficulty breathing. The symptoms appear to set in between two days and two weeks after a person has been exposed to the virus.
