December 25th local time, the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population issued a statement saying that on the 24th, there were 1,021 new confirmed cases and 51 deaths of COVID-19 in Egypt. So far, a total of 128,993 cases have been confirmed and 7,260 deaths have been confirmed in Egypt.
This is the number of new confirmed cases in a single day since July 8 this year in Egypt. After nearly half a year. Some health experts said that Egypt may soon enter the second wave of outbreak.
The second outbreak of the epidemic has become a microcosm of football fields.
In fact, since the middle and late November, people who follow the Egyptian media should have found that the title containing the words “so-and-so diagnosed with COVID-19” has gradually begun to appear frequently on TV websites and newspapers.
On November 27, the final of this year’s African Champions League was held in Cairo, the capital of Egypt. This is also the first time in the 56-year history of the tournament that two Egyptian teams have met in the final, and the two sides coincide with the most famous old opponents in Egyptian football – Ahli and Zamalek.
However, it was this high-profile historical battle that was actually taken off the spotlight by the “coronavirus” before the game. A total of eight people had to miss the game because they tested positive for the novel coronavirus before the game. Among them, there are not only players, coaches, but even one of them is a referee for this game.
It is also this “famous” competition that makes the outside world realize that the Egyptian government has been reminding the public of the second wave of epidemic prevention since late October.
Because in Egypt’s current epidemic prevention system, players are one of the few groups that are conditional and frequent virus tests, and their infection situation is to some extent considered to be a more realistic reflection of the current epidemic in Egypt.
Egyptian experts collectively speak out that the epidemic situation is not optimistic.
Although Egypt’s official epidemic case statistics have been low among regional countries, many institutions and experts say that this is mainly related to the testing methods adopted by Egypt and does not truly reflect the true spread of the novel coronavirus in a country with a population of more than 100 million in the country.
Richard Brennan, WHO Steering Commissioner for Health Emergencies in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, said: “The Egyptian government has decided to test only those who are more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19, which refers to patients who have shown severe or complex symptoms.
That means that most people with mild and asymptomatic infections in Egypt will not be tested, so we think the official number of new cases in Egypt is lower than the actual number of infections.”
“We have a hard time accurately estimating the true number of infections in Egypt right now, but we believe it may be at least ten times the number of confirmed cases published by the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population.
And with regard to the mutant coronavirus, we can’t rule out the possibility that it has appeared in Egypt.”Mohamed Nadi, a member of the Egyptian Scientific Committee on COVID-19 Response, said in an interview.
Although there is no conclusive evidence that the recent mutation of the novel coronavirus in the United Kingdom has spread to Egypt, even the data released by the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population show that in the last 10 days, the number of new confirmed cases in Egypt has soared from 511 on 14 December to 102 on the 24th. One case, almost doubled.
The government has taken emergency measures to prevent both the epidemic economy.
In the face of the fierce second wave of the epidemic, the Egyptian government has also urgently taken a series of measures to deal with it, including reopening quarantine hospitals, announcing the cancellation of all New Year’s celebrations, and allowing students to study classes at home.
However, some analysts point out that due to the huge economic pressure, even if the epidemic worsens further, the Egyptian government will not introduce shutdown measures such as curfews as a last resort.
Previously, Egypt imposed a curfew at the end of March this year to control the spread of the epidemic, but the curfew ended at the end of June due to the overburdened economy.
Some economic data show that the future is not optimistic: Egyptian enterprises’ expectations of future production index hit the lowest level on record in November, and the employment index has contracted for 13 consecutive months.
So far, Egypt has received two batches of 100,000 Chinese-made coronavirus vaccines donated by the United Arab Emirates, which will be able to vaccinate 50,000 people.
Although Egyptian Finance Minister Mait said on the 24th that Egypt has ordered 50 million vaccines from different vaccine manufacturers.
However, as far as the current situation is concerned, vaccines cannot be the main means to fight against the second wave of the epidemic in Egypt, which has a population of more than 100 million.
The attitude of the people has not changed, and the awareness of epidemic prevention is still weak.
Last month, Egyptian President Sisi made a special speech saying: “The real vaccine lies in the Egyptian people’s awareness of the need to respond to the epidemic through the necessary epidemic prevention measures.” His voice is believed to be a direct point to the Egyptian people’s less rigorous attitude towards epidemic prevention since the beginning of the epidemic.
Previously, the Egyptian government had issued a compulsory wearing order for masks in public and imposed high fines, but later, due to the violation of the law on the large number of people, this order was finally settled.
At present, although the government has warned the public of the arrival of the second wave of the epidemic through various means, according to the field observation of reporters, the attitude of the Egyptian people to epidemic prevention has not changed significantly, and a considerable number of people are unable to wear masks and maintain social distancing.
As early as the first wave of epidemic, some Egyptian media discussed the topic of “why the people’s awareness of epidemic prevention is weak, but Egypt can still control the first wave of the epidemic”. Many people believe that it is because of Egypt’s population structure is young.
According to official statistics, more than 60% of Egypt’s population is adolescents and children under the age of 30.
But at the same time, the statistics on COVID-19 deaths released by the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population have also shown that the elderly account for the majority of deaths in Egypt.
The second wave of the epidemic has arrived. Are you ready in Egypt?
