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Sunday, 20 February 2022

Last Night’s Talk Shows: Covid isolation reduced to five days + bread + water

You only have to wait it out for five days if you have covid: The recommended isolation period for those infected with covid-19 is five days, provided they’re asymptomatic at the end of the period, Health Ministry Spokesperson Hossam Abdel Ghaffar confirmed to El Hekaya (watch, runtime: 1:51), following reports that the guidance had changed since January. The World Health Organization’s move to give Egypt and several other African countries the technology to produce mRNA covid-19 vaccines also got coverage from El Hekaya (watch, runtime: 4:55). We have more on that story in this morning’s Covid Watch section, above.

The anticipated bread subsidy overhaul also returned to the airwaves last night. Internal Trade Development Authority head Ibrahim Ashmawy phoned into Sada El Balad (watch, runtime: 7:51) to discuss three potential scenarios the Supply Ministry is exploring for tapering bread subsidies: Targeted cuts that ringfence the most vulnerable; raising the price of subsidized bread; and shrinking the size of subsidized bread. Finance Minister Mohamed Maait also dropped into Sada El Balad (watch, runtime: 53:31) to discuss the subsidies with Hamdy Rizk, as well as rising inflation and the new minimum wage on state-owned enterprises.

GERD also featured: The start of electricity production at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam’s (GERD) got coverage from Ala Mas’ouleety, who phoned former irrigation and water resources minister Mohamed Nasr Allam (watch, runtime: 11:47), and Cairo University water resources professor Abbas Sharaky (watch, runtime: 10:34) to discuss the milestone.

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