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Egyptian Govt Urges Public to Observe COVID-19 Precautions amid Case Surge

A nurse inspects a robot designed to assist in carrying out coronavirus tests at Tanta Hospital (in the north of Egypt) (AFP)
A nurse inspects a robot designed to assist in carrying out coronavirus tests at Tanta Hospital (in the north of Egypt) (AFP)
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Egyptian Govt Urges Public to Observe COVID-19 Precautions amid Case Surge

A nurse inspects a robot designed to assist in carrying out coronavirus tests at Tanta Hospital (in the north of Egypt) (AFP)
A nurse inspects a robot designed to assist in carrying out coronavirus tests at Tanta Hospital (in the north of Egypt) (AFP)

The Egyptian government has urged citizens to adhere to preventive measures to contain COVID-19 spread, especially during the upcoming holy month of Ramadan.

For her part, Egyptian Minister of Health Hala Zayed said that chest hospitals and tuberculosis laboratories have been developed and supplied with the latest devices, affirming that the number of care and hospital beds increased.

Zayed said that chest hospitals are the first interface, along with fever hospitals for patients with suspected emerging coronavirus.

“The number of visitors to the chest hospitals reached more than two million citizens during the year 2020, as they were designated as screening and isolation hospitals for cases infected with COVID-19," she revealed.

Participating in activities to mark the International Tuberculosis Day, Zayed said that medical staff in these hospitals continue to receive training in combating and treating the virus.

Moreover, the Crisis Management Committee at the Egyptian Ministry of Endowments closed two mosques in Menofia and Qena as worshipers failed to commit to protective measures.

The Ministry of Endowments affirmed that it would shut any mosque that fails to adhere to the preventive measures.

It also called on the regional directorates to report any violations in this regard, reiterating the necessity of wearing facemasks and respecting physical distancing, as well as bringing a personal praying mat when attending the mosque.

On Wednesday, Egypt’s Health Ministry reported 641 new coronavirus cases and 40 deaths.

The new infections raised the total number of reported cases to 197,350. Also, the country reported a total of 151,444 recoveries and 11,720 deaths.

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UN Races to Feed One Million Gazans after Truce

People walk past trucks loaded with aid waiting to cross into Gaza from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on January 19, 2025. (AFP)
People walk past trucks loaded with aid waiting to cross into Gaza from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on January 19, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Races to Feed One Million Gazans after Truce

People walk past trucks loaded with aid waiting to cross into Gaza from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on January 19, 2025. (AFP)
People walk past trucks loaded with aid waiting to cross into Gaza from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on January 19, 2025. (AFP)

The UN's World Food Program said Sunday it was moving full throttle to get food to as many Gazans as possible after border crossings reopened as part of a long-awaited ceasefire deal.

"We're trying to reach a million people within the shortest possible time," the WFP's Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau told AFP, as the Rome-based UN agency's trucks began rolling into the strip.

"We're moving in with wheat flour, ready to eat meals, and we will be working all fronts trying to restock the bakeries," Skau said, adding the agency would attempt to provide nutritional supplements to the most malnourished.

An initial 42-day truce between Israel and Hamas is meant to enable a surge of sorely needed humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory after 15 months of war.

"The agreement is for 600 trucks a day... All the crossings will be open," Skau said.

The first WFP trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south and through the Zikim crossing in the north, the agency said in a statement, as it began trying to pull "the war-ravaged territory back from starvation".

"We have 150 trucks lined up for every day for the next at least 20 days," Skau said, adding that the WFP was "hopeful that the border crossings will be open and efficient".

There needs to be "an environment inside (Gaza) that is secure enough for our teams to move around," so that food "does not just get over the border but also gets into the hands of the people".

"It seems so far that things have been working relatively well.... We need to now sustain that over several days over weeks," he said.

Before the ceasefire came into effect, WFP was operating just five out of the 20 bakeries it partners with due to dwindling supplies of fuel and flour, as well as insecurity in northern Gaza.

"We're hoping that we will be up and running on all those bakeries as soon as possible," Skau said, stressing that it was "one of our top priorities" to get bread to "tens of thousands of people each day".

"It also has a psychological effect to be able to put warm bread into the hands of the people".

WFP also wants to "get the private sector and commercial goods in there as soon as possible," he said.

That would mean the UN agency could replace ready meals with vouchers and cash for people to buy their own food "to bring back some dignity" and allow them "frankly to start rebuilding their lives".

WFP said in a statement that it has enough food pre-positioned along the borders -- and on its way to Gaza -- to feed over a million people for three months.

Vast areas of Gaza have been devastated by Israel's retaliatory assault on the territory after the October 7 Hamas attack last year sparked the war.

The attack, the deadliest in Israel's history, resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 46,913 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.