File photo: Members of the medical staff at the infectious diseases unit of the Imbaba hospital in the capital Cairo, gather for a break on April 19,2020, during the novel coronavirus pandemic crisis. (AFP)
Dr. Ahmed Shawky, a member of the scientific committee following the coronavirus in Egypt said on Monday that Egypt may impose a new lockdown if certain factors materialise simultaneously amid the peak of the second wave.
“If Egypt reaches the peak of the second wave of COVID-19 and there is no more capacity at hospitals to deal with new cases of the coronavirus, whether in the ICUs or other sections, in addition to an ongoing increase in the number of coronavirus cases and fatalities over the week; all those cases will be met and confronted with a lockdown, especially if the vaccine is not available to all,” Shawky said in an interview to Egyptian news website Masrawy.
“According to the number of infections and fatalities, a precautionary measure will be taken, and this will be agreed upon in coordination between the ministry and the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management headed by the prime minister.”
In the last five weeks, Egypt witnessed an increase in the number of coronavirus cases as well as fatalities.
So far, the country has registered 125,555 cases of coronavirus officially since February, including 7,098 fatalities and 106,817 recoveries.
In the past two weeks, ministries, public sector institutions, as well as private sector banks and companies returned to employee rotation schedules in order to reduce the number of employees in offices to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
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