Egypt warns of COVID-19 third wave

Egyptian doctors receive patients at the infectious diseases unit of the Imbaba hospital in Cairo during the coronavirus pandemic crisis. (File/AFP)
Short Url
  • A health official told local media that the country was getting prepared for the third wave
  • A third wave of COVID-19 is possible by the end of March, he said

CAIRO: Egypt’s second COVID-19 wave has ended, according to the Ministry of Health, but the country is expected to be exposed to a third wave in April.
A health official told local media that the country was getting prepared for the third wave, which would coincide with the holy month of Ramadan.
Ashraf Hatem, a member of the Supreme Committee for Respiratory Viruses affiliated with the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and head of the health committee, said the daily rate of coronavirus infections recorded was declining continuously.
But he said people needed to continue following all precautionary measures, especially because some European countries and the US had witnessed third waves just a month and a half after second wave infection rates started to fall.

BACKGROUND

Hospital employees have won praise for bringing the rates down by properly diagnosing and treating patients with the virus.

A third wave of COVID-19 is possible by the end of March, and the degree of its severity would be determined by the extent of people’s adherence to anti-coronavirus measures.
Hatem indicated that school exams would be held according to schedule after the end of the mid-school year vacation because the infection rate was declining.
Quarantine hospital occupancy rates were at 35 percent, with Hatem attributing the decrease in rates to the strict measures taken by the government against the disease.
He applauded hospital staff in bringing the rates down by properly diagnosing and treating patients with the virus.
The official said the best prevention against infection was following the strict precautionary measures, wearing a face covering and maintaining social distance.