The working week has ended a day early as fear of bad weather shuts down public and private sectors alike: Al Hayah Al Youm’s Hossam Hadad covered the cabinet’s decision to grant give both private and public sector employees paid leave today due to adverse weather conditions, with the exception of employees at vital facilities (watch, runtime: 4:13). Masaa DMC’s Ramy Radwan (watch, runtime: 3:41) also covered the story.

Covid-19 safety measures: Yahduth Fi Misr’s Sherif Amer spoke by phone with former health minister and World Health Organization envoy Maha Al Rabat, who discussed steps you can take to lower your chances of coming down with the covid-19 virus. She also noted that there is currently no vaccine and that scientists are still in the “experimental stages” of formulating one (watch, runtime: 3:10).

New covid-19 cases: Amer also spoke by phone with Health Ministry spokesperson Khaled Megahed who discussed the seven cases of covid-19 that recovered and were discharged from hospitals upon recovery in addition to the first case discovered in Egypt. Megahed also spoke about the eight newly confirmed cases of covid-19 patients — seven Egyptians and one foreigner — who contracted the virus by coming into contact with infected people. This brings the total number of cases in Egypt to 67 (watch, runtime: 2:51).

Ethiopia’s GERD agenda: Amer spoke by phone with political analyst and the head of the Alexandria Library Moustafa Al Fiqi, who said that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abi Ahmed is taking advantage of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam crisis to promote himself ahead of this year’s elections, which he said shouldn’t come at the expense of Egypt’s interests (watch, runtime: 2:36). Al Fiqi said that Egypt’s patience has its limits and that “dying in war may be better than dying of thirst” (watch, runtime: 2:09). He also added that he would not rule out Israel stepping in as a mediator in the negotiations (watch, runtime: 2:28).