Egypt

CAIRO, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Egypt reported on Sunday a new record of 1,536 COVID-19 daily infections, raising the total number of cases registered in the country to 24,985, the Egyptian Health Ministry said.

It is the fourth consecutive day for Egypt's COVID-19 daily infections to surpass 1,000.

Meanwhile, the most populous Arab country saw the highest-single day fatalities as 46 patients died from the novel coronavirus on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 959, the ministry's spokesman Khaled Megahed said in a statement.

31 May 2020; MEMO: Egyptian hotels operating with a new reduced occupancy rate of 25 per cent to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus have almost reached full capacity, a tourism ministry official told Reuters today.

CAIRO, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron discussed on Saturday the development of several regional issues, including the situation in Libya.

During a phone call, Macron said he is keen to exchange views with Sisi over these issues as Cairo plays a key political role in the region, Egyptian Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement.

30 May 2020; MEMO: A political researcher specialising in international relations has been arrested in the middle of the night and forcibly disappeared from his home in Giza.

His family have said they tried to send telegrams to the attorney general to locate Abdo Fayed but have heard nothing until now.

28 May 2020; MEMO: Egypt’s state-run media has launched an incitement campaign against doctors after the medical union warned the country’s health system was about to collapse.

On Monday, Egypt’s Medical Syndicate said that 19 doctors had died of coronavirus in the country whilst 350 had been infected.

It lamented the lack of PPE and the failure to provide isolation units for sick medics and said that the Health Ministry was falling short of its duty to protect doctors.

26 May 2020; MEMO: Doctors at Mounira General Hospital have resigned on mass to protest against the death of their colleague from coronavirus.

The doctors said Walid Yahya, 32, was not given a test or access to a bed in ICU despite displaying symptoms of the virus.

Walid’s death has underscored an ongoing crisis in Egypt since the spread of COVID-19 where doctors have repeatedly criticised the government for failing to protect them, including providing adequate PPE.

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s medical union on Monday blamed the government for increasing levels of coronavirus infections and deaths among healthcare professionals, its sharpest criticism yet of the country’s handling of the pandemic.

Citing growing frustration over a lack of protective equipment, testing and hospital beds for front-line doctors, the union described the Egyptian health ministry’s negligence as “a crime of killing by irresponsibility.”

CAIRO, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkey saw new signs of slowdown in the COVID-19 pandemic on Thursday with 961 new infections reported, while Saudi Arabia continued to lead the region in terms of daily rise of coronavirus infections.

This was the second day that Turkey's daily infections with the novel coronavirus fell below 1,000, after 972 cases were reported on Wednesday.

So far, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Turkey climbed to 153,548, while the death toll surged to 4,249 after 27 more deaths were added, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted.

CAIRO (AP) — The Egyptian government has arrested at least 10 journalists since the coronavirus was detected in the country, a local human rights group said, accusing authorities of seizing on the pandemic to accelerate a long-running campaign against dissent.

The wave of detentions comes even as authorities across the world release inmates in a scramble to curb the spread of the virus in prisons, where social distancing and other preventative measures prove impossible, said the Arab Network for Human Rights Information.

21 May 2020; MEMO: Egyptian security forces have arrested a journalist and former researcher for the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information.

Shaima Sami wrote on Facebook that she was being arrested from her home in Alexandria, just minutes before her personal account was closed.

Security forces told her family they were taking her to the Alexandria Security Directorate. Shaima’s family and the UNHCR have demanded her release.