With the increase in the number of daily infections and deaths, the Egyptian Ministry of Health announced a few days ago that the country had entered the second wave of the Corona virus, and President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi called for the commitment to preventive measures, warning of the increasing number of infections, and Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly spoke about the danger of the new wave compared to the first.

It seems that the official announcement of the start of the second wave of the epidemic in Egypt has been delayed.

Citizens touched the danger about a month ago, with the frequent discovery of injuries that reached famous artists and football players, led by the international player Mohamed Salah.

The daily cases of injuries in all governorates did not exceed 200 cases during the past 3 months, according to the official announcement, and the gradual increase began until it exceeded 360 injuries yesterday, Wednesday.

The total number of injuries reached about 114,000, while recovery cases reached 102,000, and the number of deaths exceeded 6,500.

And things do not stop at the point of increasing the number of infections, as the advisor to the President of the Republic for Health Affairs, Muhammad Awad Taj al-Din, revealed - in televised statements - about a new fierce strain that possesses characteristics that were not present in any previous strains, including its ability to quickly infection.

The American Global Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also raised the assessment of the pandemic's severity in Egypt to its highest stage, which is Level 4.

Governmental steps

Faced with the seriousness of the second wave of the epidemic, Al-Sisi warned Egyptians about the increase in Corona infections, saying that "the epidemic is still continuing, and our concern must continue, as well as our measures to protect ourselves."

In a recorded speech he addressed to the Egyptians on Tuesday, Sisi added that "during the first wave, we took many measures, and we were forced to partially close, and we do not want to reach that again." He demanded not to be in closed places for long periods, to respect social distancing and wear masks.

In turn, Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly stressed the application of the penalties prescribed in the law when violating the precautionary measures, and called on the various ministries to take appropriate measures they deem appropriate according to the conditions and nature of their work.

To reduce crowding in the workplace, and to give priority to workers with chronic diseases.

In the same context, the government submitted to Parliament - yesterday, Tuesday - reports on the official efforts made to address the epidemic, from the start of its announcement until the current stage.

The report pointed to the implementation of preventive measures, prohibiting the movement of citizens, limiting gatherings, strengthening medical infrastructure, providing strategic supplies and goods, limiting the repercussions of Corona on the Egyptian citizen and economy, the return of Egyptians stranded abroad, media awareness and confronting rumors.

Among the official efforts included in the report are the reduction in the number of workers in government departments and agencies, the temporary suspension of work in some bodies, such as the courts, with the provision of thermometers, the provision of the necessary needs of disinfection materials, and the dissemination of instructions within the various headquarters for awareness.

As well as issuing a set of laws and decisions;

Among them are raising the efficiency of government spending, rationalizing public spending, and allocating 100 billion pounds to finance the state's plan to confront the repercussions of the virus.

Where is the vaccine?

With a number of international pharmaceutical companies announcing the discovery and approval of vaccines for the emerging corona virus, government statements began to reassure citizens about the imminence of obtaining and providing them.

However, the decisive statement was made by President Al-Sisi, who confirmed that the vaccine will not be available in the country until next September, considering that the real vaccine in the current period is awareness.

And the Minister of Health, Hala Zayed, announced the reservation of 20% of Egypt's needs from the Corona vaccine, which is produced by the American company Pfizer, and 30% of the Oxford vaccine in Britain.

Hospital readiness

With the citizens' fear of repeating the experience of the first wave of the pandemic, which witnessed overcrowding in hospitals, and the lack of beds in intensive care departments, the cases in need of care are sufficient

The Ministry of Health issued a statement containing messages to reassure citizens.

The Ministry confirmed the availability of all medical supplies in all government hospitals, and that there is a sufficient strategic stock of them, explaining the continuous monitoring of the situation of supplies availability on a daily basis through an electronic system to supply hospitals with all necessary needs immediately.

A central crisis room was also formed to follow up on the progress of work in hospitals, to provide medical teams with clinical support through medical consultations to deal with affected cases and treatment protocols, while intensifying training programs in fever and isolation hospitals.

Earlier, the government announced the injection of 11 billion pounds to support the medical sector, meet urgent needs, and allocate 2.8 billion pounds to increase the medical professions allowance by 75%.

In addition, the work of 340 public and central hospitals has been activated to provide medical service to Corona patients, and the transfer of 77 fever hospitals has been completed and issued to isolation hospitals, and 31 university hospitals have been designated for health and treatment isolation, in addition to announcing the readiness of 26 university cities to be isolation hospitals.

Contrasted face

Given what the government announces about its readiness for the second wave of the virus, the picture appears rosy and stimulating not to worry, but there is a different face that the doctors themselves reveal.

In this context, the former Undersecretary of the Doctors Syndicate, Dr. Mona Mina, asked about the government's actions towards doctors who fall daily due to infection with the virus while they are working.

And she confirmed - through her account on Facebook - that the rates of infections and deaths among doctors in Egypt are very high, and are times greater than the rates in other countries affected by the virus fiercely, such as Italy and England.

Mina pointed out that the numbers of deaths among doctors are inaccurate, because the government does not count any injury or death that has not been swabbed. "We all know that the issue of swabbing is very difficult, and in colleagues who were injured and died in hospitals without being swabbed for them," she added.

The number of doctors who died from the Corona virus reached 208 doctors - who were those who had swabs - out of a total of 6,573 deaths in Egypt, meaning that the death rate among doctors reached 3%, which is a high percentage compared to Italy, which did not exceed 1.2%, and England, which did not exceed 0.5 %.

In an article titled "Letter to the Minister of Health," Dr. Salah Al-Ghazali Harb, Professor of Internal Medicine at Qasr Al-Aini and former Chairman of the National Committee for Diabetes Control,

A letter from a colleague in which what is issued by the Ministry of Health regarding daily injuries and deaths is considered unrealistic.

He stressed the war of the rapid increase in the number of infected people, especially with the entry of the seasonal influenza season, pointing to a severe confusion between the two cases, even among doctors, which calls for raising the level of preparation in all hospitals.

He warned against underestimating the second wave of the epidemic, and continued that "what we have all seen in recent election conferences should never be repeated in many places for some candidates, unfortunately throwing out all the health instructions."

The professor of internal diseases expressed his surprise at the recent statements of the Minister of Health regarding that research showed an increase in the number of people infected with the virus at home, compared to those outside.