The next two weeks will see high rates of coronavirus (COVID-19) infections in Egypt based on projections from the most recent infection rate figures, according to Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, During a video conference meeting with governors, Madbouly said the infections increase will require constant monitoring and the strict enforcement of the night-time curfew and social distancing measures. He instructed for the governors to launch daily inspection visits to quarantine hospitals to monitor the availability of medical supplies, whilst also ensuring that citizens are provided with a good service. On Monday, Egypt reported 1,399 new coronavirus cases and 46 new deaths, raising the country's total to 26,384 cases and 1,005 deaths. Up to 6,447 cases have recovered and discharged from hospitals, according to the Health Ministry. Madbouly also ordered for a 24-hour hotline to be allocated in each governorate to follow up on citizen inquiries regarding treatment for the virus. He said that each governor should be personally responsible for following up on the complaints. During the meeting, Madbouly notified the governors of their full power to deal firmly with any lack of commitment from medical teams. Madbouly added that the Greater Cairo, Giza, and Qaliubiya governorates have reported the highest rates of infections, recording more than 50% of the infections in May. He also called for checks to be made on citizen behaviour regarding social distancing and their undertaking of other precautionary measures to curb the spread of the virus. He asserted that the government is working to provide reusable cloth masks that will cost an average price of EGP 5. Meanwhile, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said that the real figure for Egypt's coronavirus (COVID-19) cases could be as high as 117,000 according to data analysis and modelling of the virus evolution in the country. He added that the officially reported figures, which currently stand at 24,985 confirmed cases across Egypt, are equal to only about one-fifth of the real numbers according to the data analysis.He anticipated that there could be as many as 30,000 cases in Egypt during the period from 4 to 5 June. In a live video on his ministry's Facebook page on Monday, Abdel Ghaffar also projected that this number will increase to be 40,000 cases during the period from 10 to 13 June. He added that the number of cases decreased on 15 May, with a renewed wave emerging in the following period. He noted that the 20,000 case-load had been expected since April. Abdel Ghaffar mentioned that Egypt has conducted 50 out of the 64 clinical studies related to the virus in Africa. These have dealt with the virus' genetic sequence as well as drugs that are being studied for the treatment protocol. The movement of citizens has intensified in the past week, following a significant decrease during the second and third days of the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, he said. He added that population movement was monitored via satellite tracking of nitrogen dioxide, which is used as an indicator of human activity. The data gleaned from this monitoring has been used to track the emergence rates of new cases.
