Coming from Egypt.. the story of the first infection with the Omicron mutant in Europe

CAIRO -

With the escalation of the emergency around the world due to the new mutant of the Corona virus "Omicron" - which the World Health Organization described as alarming - Egypt was not, as usual, far from the scene of infections with the new mutant;

This is after Belgium announced that it had detected the first infection with the new mutant of a Belgian tourist returning from Egypt.

Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroek said - in a press conference held last Friday - that his country has a confirmed case of the new mutant, which is the first case announced in Europe, according to the French Press Agency, adding that the case did not receive the vaccine and had not previously been infected with the Corona virus ( COVID-19) before.

The minister did not provide further details, but the well-known Belgian epidemiologist Marc van Ranst wrote on Twitter that the infected person returned from Egypt on November 11, adding that the Belgian Corona Risk Assessment Committee is analyzing the situation.

Since the outbreak of the Corona virus globally in early 2020, Egypt has been accused;

At first, Egypt insistently denied having cases of infection, while several countries - including France and Canada - confirmed that they had discovered HIV infections among people returning from Egypt.

In Belgium, one sample was confirmed as the novel B.1.1.529 variant (in a returning traveller from Egypt (11/11); first symptoms on 22/11).

— Marc Van Ranst (@vanranstmarc) November 26, 2021

However, the Egyptian authorities denied - on the other hand - Egypt's relationship with the new mutant, and talked about a Belgian tourist who said that she might have contracted the virus in her country after her return or during her stop in Turkey during her return trip.

And the spokesman for the Egyptian Ministry of Health, Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, said that the case left Egypt on the ninth of this November, and symptoms appeared on the 22nd of the same month, that is, 11 days after leaving the Egyptian territory, which is a long period since leaving Egypt until the symptoms appeared. .

Abdel Ghaffar added - in a telephone interview with the satellite channel "ONE" on Saturday evening - that when the woman left Egypt and landed "transit" in Turkey and from there to Belgium, she was given a "PCR" (pcr) smear, and the result was negative on Belgian soil, and after a lapse of time. 7 days later another swab was taken and it came back negative.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Health considered that the sequence of events in this way confirms beyond any doubt that it is unlikely that she had contracted it on Egyptian soil due to the long incubation period, stressing that this information is documented by a World Health Organization official in Belgium, he said.

Omicron is not available in Egypt

The Minister of Higher Education, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, denied monitoring any cases of the Omicron mutant in Egypt.

Note that the minister is currently serving as the Minister of Health, who was said to have suffered a heart attack a few weeks ago, in conjunction with a corruption scandal discovered by the oversight bodies in the ministry, which reportedly threatens the minister's continuation in her position.

Abdel Ghaffar indicated - in a telephone interview with "Echo of the Country" channel - that the Scientific Committee for the Management of the Corona Virus Crisis in Egypt approved a package of decisions;

Including stopping direct flights between Egypt and South Africa, and tightening precautionary measures inside airports in order to discover any case of infection.

The Acting Minister of Health confirmed that 90% of the positive cases in Egypt are related to the Delta mutant, and that the Omicron mutant is still new and is being studied scientifically enough, and so far no infection has been discovered in Egypt, indicating that Egypt has taken more preventive measures until Availability of sufficient information about the new mutant.

Switzerland adds Egypt to quarantine

And the Ministry of Health in Switzerland announced that it had expanded the scope of the quarantine to stop the spread of the new Omicron strain of the Corona virus, to include travelers coming from several countries in which infections were discovered, and Egypt was among these countries, in addition to Britain, the Czech Republic and Malawi, as these countries appeared in a strain Omicron according to the Swiss authorities.

"Now that new infections with Omicron have been discovered, travelers from Britain, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Egypt and Malawi will have to prove that they are not infected with Covid-19 through a test and also stay in quarantine for 10 days," the Federal Office of Public Health said on Twitter.

In Tschechien, den Niederlande, dem Vereinigten Königreich, Ägypten und Malawi ist die Variante Omicron aufgetreten.

Beim Boarding in ein Flugzeug und bei der Einreise in die Schweiz müssen alle Personen einen negativen Covid-19-Test vorlegen und 10 Tage in Quarantäne.

— BAG - OFSP - UFSP (@BAG_OFSP_UFSP) November 27, 2021

Don't postpone studying

The Egyptian Minister of Education, Tariq Shawky, denied taking any decision to postpone the study due to the emergence of Omicron, stressing that such a decision - if taken - is not a decision of the Ministry of Education, and that the Ministry of Health is responsible for determining the next steps.

Shawky added - in a telephone interview with MBC Egypt - owned by Saudi Arabia - yesterday, Saturday, that the question about postponing the study is premature, because the mutant did not appear until very soon, stressing that the students' sitting in the homes is a mistake, and it harms the educational process. , It is enough for what we lost before, he said.

The numbers announced by Egyptian officials about the Corona virus face permanent doubts, and activists on social media have often expressed their belief that they are much less than the reality.

A World Bank report, which was recently reported by international media, indicated that the Corona deaths reported in Egypt are much lower than the actual numbers, explaining that Egypt ranks fifth in the world, and first in the Middle East and North Africa region in terms of inaccuracy in reporting cases. The real number of deaths due to corona infection.