Egypt prepares state-owned facilities to be isolation centers for COVID-19 patients

CAIRO - 20 April 2020: Egypt is working on preparing some state-owned facilities to be medical isolation places for the cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease.

Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli received a report on Monday from Social Solidarity Minister Niveen el Qabbaj on equipping university hospitals, youth centers and other state-owned facilities to be used as isolation places in a number of governorates including Cairo, Alexandria, Dakahlia, Luxor, Assiut, Ismailia, Minia, Damietta, and Qena.

As per the report, the new facilities will have a capacity of 4,305 beds, said the Social Solidarity Minister.

The UNESCO headquarters in Menoufia was equipped to receive 200 COVID-19 patients, she added.

Egypt recorded new 198 cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the last 24 hours, scaling up the total number of the infected cases to 3,333, announced Health Ministry Spokesman Khaled Megahed on Monday.

Meanwhile, the mortality increased to 250 deaths after registering new 11 deaths in 24 hours, he added, noting that only one of the newly-recorded cases is a foreigner.

The number of COVID-19 cases whose PCR tests turned from positive to negative increased to 1086, including 821 people who recovered from the virus.

All positive cases are placed under quarantine at isolation hospitals, the spokesman said.

Since mid-March, Egypt has taken certain strict measures to protect the public from the spread of coronavirus pandemic. The government has taken gradual steps in dealing with the coronavirus spread, starting with suspending schools and universities, as well as international flights.

Furthermore, a night-time curfew was imposed on March 24, 2020, while all restaurants, cafes, cafeterias, casinos, night clubs, bars, shopping centers (malls), and other local shops shut down completely until April 23.