Egypt’s doctors' syndicate and the Medical Syndicates Union will disburse cash assistance to doctors infected with the coronavirus and a total of EGP 100,000 ($6,438) in aid to the families of doctors who died of the disease, the syndicate said.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Egyptian Medical Syndicate said it would pay the family members of doctors who died of the coronavirus EGP 50,000 each, on the condition that they were practicing physicians in the country.

The Medical Syndicates Union will also disburse another EGP 50,000 to the families of its members who died of the respiratory disease, including local medical practitioners, dentists, veterinarians and pharmacists, the statement added.

It added that EGP 20,000 will also be handed out to any member of the union who has contracted the disease and been placed in an isolation hospital.

The syndicate's statement reiterated its call on the cabinet to include coronavirus-related deaths and infections among medical staff in a 2018 fund set for offering financial assistance to martyrs and injuries resulting from terrorist and security operations.

“The medical staff still bear their responsibilities on the front line to protect the nation from the threat of the pandemic,” it said
Tuesday’s announcement comes as the number of coronavirus infections amongst medical staff has been on the rise since the beginning of April in a number of hospitals across the country.

The doctor's syndicate said earlier this week that three doctors had died of the virus and 43 had been infected, saying that the numbers were likely to increase as it continued the tallying process.

Only one of the deceased doctors contracted the virus during work, the syndicate said.

Medical staff make up around 13 percent of the confirmed coronavirus cases in the country, World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Egypt John Jabbour said on Monday.

Egypt on Monday detected 125 new coronavirus cases and five new deaths, the lowest daily death toll the country had recorded in nine days. This brought the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 2,190 and the deaths to 164.