CAIRO – 10 September 2018: Egypt’s Cabinet denied a number of rumors in various realms, which had directly affected people’s lives over the last five days ending Sunday.
The Cabinet’s Media Council denied the rumors widely circulating in the fields of health, transportation, supply and subsidy, education, and employment. This comes within the framework of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s recent warning about thousands of rumors that spread in the last period.
Egypt Today displays the rumors denied by the Cabinet of Ministers’ Media Council, and the explanation made by the council after contacting related officials.
1- Daily share of bread cancelled if not requested daily
The Ministry of Supply and Internal and Domestic Trade denied the news saying that citizens who get subsidized bread worth LE 0.05 per loaf would not be able to get their daily share if they did not request it on daily basis, the Media Council reported.
The ministry affirmed that the citizens’ share of bread has not been changed, saying that if a citizen does not spend his share, it will be converted to points that the ministry is obliged to give to citizens on a monthly basis.
The ministry also affirmed the continuous existence of monitoring campaigns in all bakeries nationwide to make sure they give citizens their daily share of bread for LE 0.05 per loaf.
In July 2017, the government halted flour subsidies, which was effective as of August 2017, in an effort to reduce wheat imports by 10 percent. The move also aimed to avoid smuggling flour outside the subsidies system.
While the ministry is selling each loaf of bread at LE 0.05, it reportedly costs the state between LE 0.55 to LE 0.60, calculating the production cost of bread endured by the bakeries.
2- Government raises income tax
The Ministry of Finance denied the rumors concerning raising tax value on the employees’ salaries, saying that no increase in the income tax or any other taxes will take place in the next period, the Cabinet’s Media Center reported.
The ministry affirmed that the amendments carried out recently in the income tax law aimed to ease the tax burden on citizens.
Concerning recent amendments, the ministry earlier decided to totally exempt employees with annual salaries of up to LE 8,000 ($448) instead of 7,200 ($403) from taxes, starting from July 2017.
According to the new amendments, people with salaries ranging from LE 8,000 to LE 30,000 ($1,679), pay an income tax on 15 percent of their salaries only, while those with salaries ranging from 30,000 to 45,000 ($2,519) pays tax on 55 percent of their salaries.
Moreover, the highest burden of income tax is on the shoulders of those with annual salaries ranging from LE 45,000 to LE 200,000, as they pay taxes on 92.5 percent of their salaries.
3- HAV spreads throughout Beni Suef
The Ministry of Health denied the news concerning the alleged spread of hepatitis A virus (HAV) in some villages in Beni Suef governorate located in the center of Egypt. The ministry affirmed that hospitals of Beni Suef have normal rates of hepatitis A.
The ministry also affirmed that it continuously launches medical convoys in a number of governorates to examine people and detect hepatitis A, B and C.
Earlier in September, the ministry revealed that the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) infection rate in Egypt decreased to less than 0.02 percent this year to represent one of the lowest infection rates worldwide, according to official statements issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UNAIDS.
CAIRO – 21 July 2018: Amongst the health reforms that were initiated by President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi was the national strategy to cure Hepatitis C and help combat its spread.
4- Malaria spreads throughout Gharbia’s Basyoun
The Health Ministry denied an alleged spread of the life-threatening disease of malaria in the villages of Gharbia governorate’s Basyoun. The ministry said that malaria cases have not been recently reported in Gharbia or other governorates.
The ministry added that a medical team was sent to Gharbia’s hospitals and affirmed that none of the patients were found infected with epidemic diseases including malaria.
Egypt had carried out sustainable control and prevention measures for about 20 years to eliminate lymphatic filariasis (LF) as a public health problem, before the World Health Organization announced last March that Egypt is the first Middle East country of the WHO to eliminate the tropical disease.
5- Cumulative Secondary School System cancelled
Fake news concerning the new Thanaweya Amma system circulated on social media, saying that the updated cumulative grades system will not be applied. The Ministry of Education denied the news, affirming that the updated cumulative system will be applied starting this educational year that starts on September 22.
The Media Center of the Council of Ministers reassured the public on Sunday that the new Cumulative Secondary School System will be implemented at Japanese and public Arabic schools only for the 2018/2019 academic year.
The Cumulative Secondary School System will not be stopped, only updated.
Elaborating on the new Cumulative Secondary School System, the Ministry of Education pointed out that the new system will be applied for the first time in the academic year 2018/2019; accordingly, students will sit a total of 12 examinations through their three years in high school—each year they will sit four examinations. The ministry also noted that the cumulative result will be calculated based on the mean of the four examinations in which students scored highest.
CAIRO – 9 September 2018: The Media Center of the Council of Ministers reassured the public Sunday that the new Cumulative Secondary School System will be implemented at Japanese and public Arabic schools only for the 2018/2019 academic year.
In July, President Sisi warned against false news clarifying that more than 21,000 rumors have been propagated over a period of three months. The president also asked people to be cautious of calls that inherently aim at the collapse of the Egyptian state.
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