A zoo employee wearing full protective gear takes a rest while spraying disinfectant at the closed Giza Zoo, during the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt April 8, 2020. REUTERS
Egypt's health ministry announced on Monday 125 new coronavirus cases and five new deaths, which is the lowest daily death toll the country has recorded in nine days.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases in Egypt to 2,190 and the deaths to 164.
The health ministry added that 41 Egyptians have fully recovered and left isolation hospitals and quarantine facilities on Monday, which brings the total number of recoveries from the virus thus far to 488.
The number of cases whose test results have turned from positive to negative, including the recoveries, has now reached 622, ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said.
All the new cases are Egyptians. They were detected through the ministry’s investigation and contact tracing protocols, Megahed added.
Cases that have responded to treatment protocols and suffer no clinical symptoms -- but still test positive to the virus -- are being transferred from isolation hospitals to quarantine in hotels, youth hostels and other facilities where they are monitored until they test negative and fully recover, Egypt’s Health Minister Hala Zayed.
The minister explained that 185 such cases have been placed in quarantine facilities, of whom 21 have fully recovered and left quarantine on Monday.
Zayed held a meeting on Monday - via video conference - with the administrative and medical staff of four isolation hospitals to ensure that all their needs are met and that treatment and infection control standards are followed.
She stated that a number of cases in two of those hospitals -- El-Sadaqa in Aswan and Esna in Luxor -- would be transferred to youth hostels on Monday after they had responded to the treatment.
Egypt has allocated 94 hospitals across the country to deal with the coronavirus outbreak. They include 12 isolation hospitals and 82 fever and pulmonology hospitals, which will carry out triage and referral of coronavirus patients.
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