Egypt Reassures Citizens on COVID-19

Egyptian officials discuss with WHO officials a plan to raise awareness. (Egyptian Ministry of Health)
Egyptian officials discuss with WHO officials a plan to raise awareness. (Egyptian Ministry of Health)
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Egypt Reassures Citizens on COVID-19

Egyptian officials discuss with WHO officials a plan to raise awareness. (Egyptian Ministry of Health)
Egyptian officials discuss with WHO officials a plan to raise awareness. (Egyptian Ministry of Health)

The Egyptian Health Ministry reassured the Egyptians on Sunday that all precautionary measures are being taken to counter the spread of the new Covid-19 variant amid international and regional concerns about the spread of the virus by the end of summer.

Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population, explained that all the currently circulating mutants belong to the mutated Omicron and do not cause severe disease.

The spokesperson announced that since April, cases of Covid-19 in Egypt began to decrease significantly, reaching the lowest rates compared to previous years, and that there have been no deaths since the last recorded case on 16 March, 2023 until now.

Abdel Ghaffar affirmed that the health ministry is closely following the epidemiological update of all respiratory viruses in the country and that it is taking all precautionary measures against the COVID-19 disease.

The health ministry uses a strong surveillance system that continuously examines the genetic sequence of COVID-19 samples in public health labs to detect and follow up on new variants, he said.

The ministry is also monitoring cases of acute respiratory diseases in outpatient clinics and hospitals.

Abdel Ghaffar indicated that since the World Health Organization declared the end of the health emergency for COVID-19 on 5 May 2023, the virus has become endemic in all countries of the world and is treated like other acute respiratory diseases.

He added that the current dominant mutant in the world is the Omicron mutant, which is rapidly spreading, but it is less severe and less dangerous than other mutants.

New subvariants of Omicron are being discovered but the cases are simple and not at all severe, the spokesman affirmed.

Jihan Al-Assal, Professor of Chest Diseases at Ain Shams University, told Asharq Al-Awsat that regardless of how many new variants of COVID-19 emerge, the epidemiological situation wouldn’t be more dangerous than the time when the pandemic broke out.

Al-Assal reassured that the coronavirus has become a seasonal disease such as influenza and confronting it is now easier. “All new variants are weaker than the original virus.”

Johns Hopkins University of Medicine revealed in a report in January that COVID-19 deaths reached an estimated 6,690,581 by January. The total number of patients amounted to 660,543,327.

The report added that the US recorded the highest number of cases, 100.7 million, while India came second, 44.6 million, and Brazil third, 36.3 million.



Egypt, Zambia Discuss Need to Promote Integration Within African Countries

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received on Monday his Zambian counterpart, Hakainde Hichilema in Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received on Monday his Zambian counterpart, Hakainde Hichilema in Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)
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Egypt, Zambia Discuss Need to Promote Integration Within African Countries

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received on Monday his Zambian counterpart, Hakainde Hichilema in Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received on Monday his Zambian counterpart, Hakainde Hichilema in Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his Zambian counterpart, Hakainde Hichilema, have stressed the crucial need to promote cooperation and integration within Africa as part of their countries’ commitment to fostering stability in the continent.

Egypt’s presidential spokesman, Mohamed el-Shennawy, said Monday that the two leaders held a closed-door meeting, followed by expanded discussions that involved the two countries' official delegations.
They also witnessed the signing of a number of cooperation agreements between the two countries, the spokesman said.

Speaking at a joint press conference, Sisi said that he held fruitful and constructive discussions with Hichilema that reflected the shared political will to shore up bilateral cooperation in the political, economic, social and development domains.
Sisi expressed Egypt’s readiness to transfer its development expertise and provide all forms of support and assistance to Zambia with the view to enhancing the capabilities of its workforce in priority areas, and collaborating on strengthening operational frameworks within Zambia's state institutions.

The Egyptian President highlighted the investment opportunities in the “Lobito Corridor” project, as part of efforts to stimulate the engagement of the Egyptian public and private sectors in investment activities in Zambia.

This aims to unlock new avenues for cooperation between the two countries’ business communities and capitalize on the Egyptian-Zambian Business Forum, held during Hichilema’s visit, he said.

“Driven by this commitment, we agreed on enhancing the contractual frameworks between our countries in the areas of political consultation, promotion of mutual investments, agriculture, aquaculture, and infrastructure,” Sisi said.

He added that they also agreed on the importance of joint action and the need to coordinate positions to advance African priorities on the international agenda.

Hichilema and Sisi underscored the importance of reforming continental organizations to boost their capabilities to address current challenges and to better serve the interests of their peoples.

“We emphasized the crucial need to utilize continental frameworks, notably the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), to bolster regional integration and amalgamation among African countries,” Sisi said.

In addition, the talks touched on a multitude of regional and international issues of mutual interest, with special focus on developments in Gaza, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Horn of Africa, as well as Red Sea security and water security.
The two leaders reiterated their countries’ commitment to fostering stability in Africa and the Middle East region.