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Sunday, 12 April 2020

Egypt’s talk shows: Covid-19 testing procedures, balancing work and public health

Health Ministry spox on covid-19 testing procedures: The government has been relying more heavily on isolating suspected cases of covid-19 than on PCR testing, which does not necessarily always yield accurate results, Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed told El Hekaya’s Amr Adib. Megahed explained that the ministry has a set of diagnostic criteria in place for cases to be tested, saying that the system has so far allowed the outbreak to remain contained in Egypt (watch, runtime: 5:29). Masaa DMC’s Eman El Hosary (watch, runtime: 0:51) and Min Masr’s Amr Khalil (watch, runtime: 0:35) also ran down the ministry’s daily case tally.

Balancing health and economic concerns is key, says Bahaa Eldin: Adib also had a chat with former International Cooperation Minister Ziad Bahaa Eldin, who pointed out that Egypt is not exempt from the turmoil that is hitting the global economy and that it’s currently impossible to determine how long the current situation will last. The former minister stressed that the government must continue to strike a balance between policies safeguarding public health and measures to prevent a total economic meltdown (watch, runtime: 2:54 and runtime: 3:54).

Samih Sawiris was of the same mind, telling Al Kahera Alaan’s Lamees El Hadidi that the government should start thinking of ways to gradually return some of the country’s labor force to work with the necessary precautions in place. Sawiris noted that irregular laborers are the most affected by social distancing policies and the nighttime curfew, and that the state can’t afford to pay out stipends for the foreseeable future. The businessman separately told Lamees that he has recovered from a case of pneumonia (watch, runtime: 7:55).

Madbouly checks up on health measures at factories: Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly’s media coordinator Hany Younis debriefed Lamees and Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Assal on Madbouly’s tour of factories in Ismailia and 10th Ramadan City to assess their health policies for workers (watch, runtime: 1:39) and (watch, runtime: 5:53).

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