Cabinet denies audio warning of coronavirus spread among school pupils

CAIRO - 19 February 2020: The Cabinet has denied on Wednesday posts shared by some social media pages warning against the spread of the coronavirus among school pupils, according to the Cabinet's media center's statement.



The statement reported that the cabinet contacted the ministries of health and education to verify an audio clip posted on some social media pages that warns against the spread of the virus in schools and they categorically denied such news.

No cases of coronavirus have been reported in any school across the nation, the ministries stressed, asserting full transparency in dealing with the matter.

The ministries reiterated the need to take a series of precautionary measures to confront any contagious diseases and that they are keen on the health and safety of all students and people.

In Feb. 16, Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed said the only coronavirus case recorded in Egypt has shown no symptoms, and all those who dealt with him tested negative for the deadly virus but will be monitored for 15 days.

While the new virus, which emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, had stayed away from Africa, Egyptian Health Ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday confirmed the country’s first case, a Chinese national who local authorities later said was moved to Matrouh governorate, in the northwestern part of the country, to be placed under quarantine.

The building where the case was in was evacuated, sterilized and became usable, Zayed said, in an interview with Kol Youm program on ON E TV.

The ministry started applying precautionary measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus since January 7th, Zayed said, adding that the ministry communicates with the WHO and managed in 24 hours to prepare a hospital in Matrouh that is able to receive 800 persons for quarantine.

In the same context, Representative of the World Health Organization in Egypt, John Gabor stressed that Egypt was one of the first countries to develop a good preventive plan against Coronavirus, as it was provided with an accurate detectors to discover any case infected with the new emerging virus.

Adittional Report with MENA