– The Ministry of Health announced a week ago that it had detected cases of the Delta mutator (the Indian mutated from the Corona virus) from mid-July, and other cases of the Delta Plus mutator (the version that mutated from Delta), after she and officials in her ministry denied the arrival of Delta more than once. .
– This announcement coincided with the announcement of the start of a fourth wave of the virus in Egypt, with the increase in the number of infections and deaths. The government also announced the compulsory vaccination of employees and university students, and banning them from entering universities or workplaces if they did not receive the vaccine by the end of the deadline set next month.
– In this post, we will follow up with some of the latest developments in the epidemic in Egypt, and the way the government deals with it.
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What is the danger of the mutated Delta and the government’s dealings with it?
Delta is the most prominent mutation of the Corona virus, which appeared in India, its symptoms are close to the known symptoms of the virus, but it is distinguished by its enormous ability to spread.
Many countries announce the arrival of Delta, to warn people of it, and to stress adherence to preventive measures. But the strange thing is that Egypt preferred to deny the detection of any cases of Delta infection, although they were sure of his arrival.
– The Minister of Health personally denied in mid-July last year the arrival of Delta, but she came back and confirmed on Monday that Delta had existed since mid-July, and justified concealing the information that the numbers that were monitored were few and their injuries moderate, and she completely forgot her responsibility to warn people of infection.
– The announcement of the arrival of Delta came in response to a journalist’s question who was present at the last conference of the ministry, and I don’t know if the minister would think of alerting people when the journalist did not ask.
At the time, 142 countries reported the emergence of the new strain of the “Delta mutated” corona, including two thirds of the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
– This is in addition to the fact that the Adviser to the President of the Republic for Health Affairs, Muhammad Awad Taj El-Din, confirmed this month that the Delta mutator did not appear in Egypt, but only said that it was “hey, hey, hey.” So, did he not know the information from the Minister of Health?
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Vaccination campaign reached to Vin?
So far, Egypt has vaccinated 7.5 million citizens (most of them with the first dose only) out of 10 million who applied for the vaccine.
The vaccines currently available in Egypt are Sinovac, which is a Chinese vaccine that has begun to be manufactured in Egypt. It also contains the English AstraZeneca vaccines, and this is intended for the second doses for those who received a first dose of the same vaccine. The vaccine is also available to travelers as part of the US Johnson & Johnson single-dose group of vaccines.
The vaccination campaign was slow or almost stopped last month due to the lack of vaccines, but it returned to activity again with the arrival of new vaccines from the global Kovacs initiative, and the start of the manufacture of the Chinese vaccine in Egypt.
The Prime Minister and Minister of Health say that the government aims to vaccinate 40 million citizens before the end of the year. Medicine how this goal can be achieved? They say that the manufacture of the vaccine in Egypt will make available to us more vaccines than the number of those targeted for vaccination during this period, and indeed there are 15 million doses available.
– While emphasizing the importance of the campaign, but this raises a question about the human forces that can implement and organize the campaign in this way, especially with what we have seen of crowds in front of some vaccination centers, especially, for example, in the case of travelers, and waiting for long hours.
– According to medical sources I spoke with Mada Masr, the government is resorting to a parallel system to vaccinate people outside the vaccination centers, and through which half of those vaccinated have now been vaccinated. This system depends on vaccinating people in certain official institutions, such as Parliament and some ministries, and workers in the tourism sector, and it extends and constitutes all government employees and students of higher education.
– The system will depend on vaccinating individuals in these regions, through their medical departments. The priority of vaccination within each entity is not clear, and in most cases it relies on statements prepared by the same authorities to vaccinate their employees. This could open the door to favoritism in light of the absence of standards, and the squandering of the right of the elderly and those with diseases to get the vaccine first, especially with sources confirming to Mada Masr that this has already happened.
We also have to talk about the collection of fees for the vaccination process, under different names. For example, travelers must pay 350 pounds to be able to obtain a certificate proving that they have received the vaccine. For the same reason, students will pay 25 pounds. Since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, the Ministry has been trying to impose fees on the vaccinations of most citizens, but it was met with many objections, given that it is not supposed to receive fees for performing its role in facing a global epidemic, but now you do not miss an opportunity to impose fees on the vaccine.
– In the end, efforts have been made in the file of providing vaccines, even if they are late, but the management of the vaccination process so far has been marred by major shortcomings, making the rate very late in light of the spread of mutant.
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What do we see from all of this?
With the country entering a fourth wave of the spread of Corona, the possibility of accelerating the spread of the virus increases in light of the presence of the mutated Delta, at a time when Egypt has canceled most of the precautionary measures, and there is no obligation even to wear masks or maintain safe distances between people in most public and private places in Egypt.
So much so that one day before the Minister of Health announced the spread of the new mutant, the head of the Health Committee in the House of Representatives, Ashraf Hatem, criticized the government’s management of the file of precautionary measures to confront the epidemic, and said that strictness and leniency in the application of procedures are carried out according to social class.
– In light of this situation, it is necessary to warn against the Indian scenario in which the delta mutant originated, when the failure to adhere to the precautionary measures caused thousands of deaths and millions of injuries, and I saw pictures and videos of patients on the sidewalks who could not find a place in hospitals or oxygen tubes, and many patients They died while waiting to receive minimal medical care.
– This confirms the importance of accelerating the campaign to distribute vaccinations, but this alone is not enough, because we are talking about 4 months, the government will vaccinate 40% of the population in them, and until this happens, most people are exposed to infection, and some are exposed to serious complications due to injury and may lead to death, I mean, it is necessary It has preventive measures imposed by the government as much as possible and people are committed to them.
The warning about the Corona story may remain repetitive, but in fact its importance can be seen from all countries that have achieved reasonable vaccination rates, and are still afraid of the mutant, and we see daily studies published about the effectiveness of vaccines with the new mutant, which unfortunately are decreasing, let alone the countries that are still It has not achieved a good vaccination rate for the population, like Egypt in particular.
Transparency is part of managing the crisis and denial will cause negligence, and consequently the loss of people’s lives. We could have saved them if we provided information to the public and awareness, but what happened from the Minister of Health is something that requires accountability, and the House of Representatives is supposed to take this step, and it is never enough to criticize the government’s performance in Television by the Chairman of the Parliament’s Health Committee.
The role of oversight over the government’s performance is the most important in the current period, and parliaments that express peoples are at the right time because they play their role in light of a global epidemic, but unfortunately we do not see this role happening as required in the Corona crisis, in light of clear confusion in performance and statements.
– We wish safety to all our families in Egypt, and we will not fail to remind the issue of precautionary measures – as much as possible and available – to reduce our losses to our loved ones as a result of this damned virus, and most importantly also apply for vaccination in any available way, whether registration or by providing institutions.