Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Saturday responded to a French announcement made Thursday regarding two cases of coronavirus in France reportedly acquired after a tourist trip to Egypt.
From that moment on, the French side and Egypt’s ambassador in Paris were tapped to obtain information, Madbouly said, adding that further details coming on Friday afternoon revealed that the cases were staying in Egypt with a tourist group from February 5 to 16.
The Health Minister and all state agencies then carried out the necessary measures and examined all areas of residence the two cases had stayed in.
Every member of the tourist group staying with them had left the country, he confirmed, and all workers present where the tourist group was residing are being examined.
The government is tightening its measures while a cabinet meeting approved the Health Ministry’s decision to import additional equipment for checkups at ports, at a cost of about LE150 million.
Madbouly said that “we are instantly following all cases reported to hospitals”, and referred to examples of suspected cases in hospitals proven to be negative after examination.
The Egyptian government deals with all cases in transparency, he said, and called on citizens to disregard any rumors to the contrary.
“We announce everything with absolute transparency, and we will not hide anything,” Madbouly stressed.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
