Alexandria's Directorate of Health closed on Wednesday a private hospital in Karmouz district, west of the city, after cases of the coronavirus among the hospital's medical personnel were discovered. A source said that the directorate's Preventive Medicine Department implemented sterilisation and disinfection procedures at the hospital, in addition to imposing a 14-day isolation on those who came into contact with the patients. The number of daily Covid-19 cases in Egypt is still on the rise with 387 new coronavirus cases reported on Wednesday, raising the country's total to 7,588 cases. The Ministry of Health also reported 17 new deaths, bringing the total death toll to 469 deaths. Up to 1,815 cases have recovered so far. Also on Wednesday, local officials in Ismailia lifted the medical isolation imposed on the Ezbet El-Laban subdistrict, after it completed the 14-day isolation period. Meanwhile, the Minya Health Directorate announced the discovery of six new cases in four different cities across the governorate. Cabinet spokesperson Nader Saad said in televised statements on Tuesday that the increase in coronavirus infections that have appeared this week can be attributed to two factors. The first, he said, is due to the overcrowding that occurred the week before the holy month of Ramadan. The second, he said was down to the decline in commitment to the government's precautionary and medical measures. "In the first three weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, citizens were committed, but in the current period this commitment has declined," Saad said. He added: "Let's not deny that the size of the commitment of the Egyptians in the streets has decreased significantly from the first three-week period in which the measures were enforced… All the numbers are spiriling because of the size of the numbers who have mixed with infections." “When we said that life is gradually returning to normal, we said with a disciplined return under precautionary and medical procedures," Saad said.
