GlobalGeoNews republished Ali’s analysis of fighting Covid-19 in Egypt

GlobalGeoNews website has republished Dr. Abdel-Rahim Ali’s analysis of the situation in Egypt regarding the fight against the Corona pandemic.

GlobalGeoNews mentioned Ali as Egypt’s MP and chairman of the Center for Middle East Studies in Paris (CEMO).

The Global site added that Ali’s works have been translated into several languages in several countries.

Here, the Full text of the analysis:

At the beginning of 2020 the most pessimistic fortune tellers did not predict that humanity will face its biggest calamities along its whole history. Certainly what was before would be completely different from what comes after. The sweeping of covid-19 in the planet showed how different were the countries in facing the pandemic.

They dealt with the danger not only according to their cultures but also due to the criteria of the nation’s power and how the peoples supported their political will..This will also be decided by the way through the looming dangers that may face other countries and may hinder its movements to face off the pandemic. The Egyptian case gives a clear example to the reader everywhere on how it dealt with the catastrophe and the lessons that may be taken out of this experience.

Two gates of challenge were opened   at the same time in Egypt: The coronavirus pandemic which claims thousands of lives worldwide, and caused a partial closure of hundreds of factories, companies and authorities in Egypt. Meanwhile Cairo also faces an insidious terrorism sponsored and spurred by some regional powers aiming at snatching Sinai..Accordingly martyrs of the Egyptian army together with security troops pay every now and then the heavy  price of keeping the country intact. Egypt has actually survived all the attempts made to destabilize or divide it..

Egypt fights an amalgamation of terrorist groups, including ISIS, jihadists and the remnants of al-Qaeda, together with Ansar Bait Almaqds organisations alone. Egyptians know for sure who stands behind this terrorism and why it becomes active at specific times.

They realize that when  terrorists know that the Egyptian army is busy aiding health authorities fight the lethal  coronavirus supplying them with all their medical necessities, the lousy terrorists hit with malicious intent Baer Alabd in Sinai..The attack left 10 martyrs including a first lieutenant.. The attack timing was precisely calculated..

Libyan National Army Commander Gen. Khalifa Haftar defeated the extremists and the evil forces that planned to steal Egypt’s natural gas in the Mediterranean and break into Egypt’s western borders. This was why the terrorists struck against in the North Sinai city of Baer al-Abd, especially after Egypt recognized Haftar’s move  and bestowed international legitimacy on him.

It is destined for egypt to fight for the integrity of its territories and the stability of the region. This comes at a time everybody is busy defending his own interests. Egypt will keep doing this, regardless of any pressures or risks that it may face.All are careless about a monster who; if succeeded; would swallow the whole region..

The coronavirus, scientifically known as Covid-19 – has succeeded in uniting the world.

A large number of Chinese citizens, especially in the central city of Wuhan, were diagnosed with this disease in December last year. The disease then seeped out of China and into a large number of other countries, including in Europe, North America and Asia. Countries within these regions started reporting their cases as of the end of January 2020.

Over 75,775 cases were confirmed before the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the disease an international pandemic on March 11. All countries then started taking measures to prevent the coronavirus from spreading inside them.

Egypt has been making preparations since then. Egyptian authorities took a series of measures to fight the disease. Nevertheless, it is important to know how the coronavirus entered Egypt.

On February 14, the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population reported the first case for a foreign national. Health authorities treated this case very seriously in the light of regulations declared by the WHO. This index case or zero patient was a Chinese national. He worked for a shipping, export and import company in Cairo.

This man turned out to have contracted the virus from one of the workers of his company who had just returned from China. This man left Egypt immediately after he felt symptoms of the disease.

Surprisingly enough, the Chinese patient did not show any symptoms of the disease. This was the world’s first coronavirus case without symptoms.

This man was quarantined in one of the isolation centers in Egypt. Health authorities also started tracing those who came in contact with him and examined them. The place where the man lived was decontaminated along with the headquarters of the company where he worked in eastern Cairo.

The Ministry of Health then issued a statement in which it said it had tested those who came in contact with the Chinese national and that they all proved negative for the disease. However, all these people were asked to self-isolate for 14 days as a precautionary measure.

Egyptian authorities have been coordinating action against the coronavirus with the regional office of the WHO from the very beginning. According to office head, John Jabbour, the Chinese national was quarantined for 14 days, in the light of WHO regulations.

Egypt in the face

The man was then declared free from the virus after undergoing numerous tests. He got out of the isolation hospital in the northwestern coastal city of Marsa Matrouh on February 27. A delegation from the Chinese Embassy in Cairo received him. The medical team of the hospital also celebrated his recovery.

How did the fight start?

Egypt started its battle against the coronavirus by coordinating between its different agencies and spreading awareness about the virus. It explored the possibility of localizing the manufacture of medical supplies and equipment needed for protection against the coronavirus.

Egypt formed a crisis-management panel headed by Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi supervises the work of the committee continually. The most important decisions taken by the panel included the following:

First, at the level of the health sector

Ensuring the protection of citizens, regardless of any financial losses

Bringing Egyptian nationals back from Wuhan

Sending Minister of Health and Population Hala Zayed to China to express solidarity, handover medical aid and exchange expertise. Chinese authorities gave Zayed important documents about the preventive measures taken in China to curb the spread of the virus. China also offered Egypt 1,000 coronavirus detection equipment.

• Raising the alert and preparedness levels in the light of WHO standards
• Organizing awareness campaigns for ordinary people
• Suspending the work of all government administrative offices, except for health offices
• Making adequate amounts of basic commodities available and tightening supervision over the market
• Making an early detection of infections
• Tightening health supervision over entry points and taking other measures, including the following:

1 – Specifying a hospital in each governorate for dealing with coronavirus infections

2 – Preparing the largest number of isolation hospitals

3 – Raising the alert level at quarantine centers and testing those coming from other countries for the coronavirus

4 – Preparing central labs for coronavirus tests

5 – Testing guests at cruise ships and hotels in Luxor

6 – Launching a hotline and a website to answer queries about the coronavirus

7 – Raising the salaries and the bonuses of medical professionals to improve their living standards

8 – Establishing a health risks fund for medical professionals

9  Giving urgent bonuses to those working at quarantine and isolation centers

Egypt in the face

Second, precautionary measures to prevent public gatherings:

1 – Imposing a nationwide nighttime curfew to restrict the movement of citizens

2 – Ordering the closure of the restaurants, cafés, casinos, sports clubs, and shopping malls as of 7:00pm every day

3 – Suspending the work of cinemas and theatres and suspending sports activities

Third, at the level of the administrative apparatus:

1 – Reducing the number of civil servants attending to work

2 – Cancelling out fingerprint signatures at administrative offices for workers

3 – Testing the temperature of workers before they enter their offices to early detect any infections

4 – Banning training course and workshops

Fourth, at the level of the education sector:

1 – Suspending study at the universities and the schools and instituting a new online learning system

2 – Turning the university dorms into isolation centers

Fifth, the tourism and air travel sector:

1 – Suspending air transport to and from Egypt as of March 18 and asking tourists already present in Egypt to leave the country once their programs or tourist packages come to an end

2 – Operating flights to return Egyptians stranded in other countries home

Sixth, at the level of the media:

1 – Making a comprehensive media coverage of coronavirus developments, both inside and outside Egypt

2 – Airing videos to spread awareness about the disease and means of protection against it

3 – Broadcasting the daily statements of the Ministry of Health and Population

4 – Refuting coronavirus-related rumors

5 – Publicizing initiatives for supporting medical professionals

6 – Covering the activities of the head of the WHO office in Egypt, especially his remarks about the measures Egypt takes against the disease

7 – Launching campaigns to encourage citizens to stay home

8 – Airing videos to assure the public about the availability of basic commodities

Seventh, at the level of security:

The national police played an important role in securing medical teams dealing with coronavirus patients. Interior Ministry teams decontaminated police stations, temporary detention centers and security facilities. The different sectors of the Interior Ministry, including the jails, were provided with decontamination equipment and other equipment for temperature testing. The prison population was tested for the coronavirus. The president pardoned 4,500 inmates in March and April in the light of prison regulations.

Eighth, at the level of the economy:

The government took a series of measures to stimulate the economy and support irregular labor. These measures included the following:

1 – Specifying 100 billion Egyptian pounds for the national response against the coronavirus

2 – Reducing the price of natural gas to factories to $4.5 for every million British thermal units

3 – Reducing the price of electricity for production centers

4 – Offering exporters 1 billion Egyptian pounds in subsidies in March and April

5 – Postponing the payment of the real estate taxes for tourist facilities and factories for three months

6 – Coordinating with the parliament for passing the small projects law and amending the real estate tax law

7 – Absolving stock market gains from several charges

8 – Delaying the repayment of loans by small projects for six months

9 – Launching a new initiative for supporting tourist investors and delaying the repayment of loans by tourist facilities

10 – Specifying 100 billion Egyptian pounds in loans for the private and industrial sectors at an interest rate of 10%

11 – Raising the bonuses of pensioners

12 – Exempting the owners of farmland from the farmland tax

13 – Offering 20 billion Egyptian pounds in funds for the Stock Exchange

14 – Giving financial support to over 1.5 million irregular workers

This was how Egyptian authorities fought the coronavirus on many fronts. They besieged the disease; offered support to sectors negatively affected by it; supported the people it caused suffering to, and spread awareness among the members of the public about the virus.

This can answer questions about the low coronavirus infection rate in Egypt. The answer is simply that Egypt followed a well-calculated strategy, in the light of international standards, in dealing with the disease. It acted under unprecedented coordination among state authorities. This is impressing everybody.

It is important to note that Egypt detected its first coronavirus case at a time the rest of the world did not know enough about this disease. Nevertheless, it dealt very efficiently with this case. The Egyptian case stands in stark contrast to the cases of other countries, including the UK, where the prime minister and the crown prince contracted the virus, among many other people.