Egypt’s parliament reviews recommendations of its committees amid coronavirus

Egyptian Parliament’s secretariat-general released a statement on Wednesday reviewing the recommendations the parliamentary committees made to help the state stem the spread of coronavirus in Egypt, Ahram Online reported.

Infections in Egypt have reached 2,350 on Tuesday and the virus has so far killed 178 people. Egypt on Tuesday reported its highest daily increase in coronavirus cases, with 160 infections — up by 100 from two weeks ago.

Parliament’s health committee said it held a meeting with health minister Hala Zayed on 13 April to review the latest developments on the coronavirus in Egypt.

Zayed provided the MPs with the latest figures on the coronavirus infections in Egypt and other countries. “Zayed stressed that all state institutions should join forces in the coming period to face the challenge of the coronavirus,” said the committee, adding that “she explained the measures the state would adopt if coronavirus infections dramatically increased in the coming period.”

The health committee said it has urged the goverment to implement the cabinet’s decree that doctors who die as a result of treating coronavirus patients should be treated as “martyrs” in line with Law 16/2018 and that their families should receive adequate financial compensations.

The committee also urged the health ministry to contract retired doctors and fresh graduates of medicine faculties to help the state in the war against the coronavirus. “The committee also recommended that incentives and bonuses granted to doctors and nurses working in quarantine hospitals be largely increased and that these be added to the bonus that was lately granted by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi,” read the statement.

The Committee of Local Administration recommended that governors step up efforts aimed at raising the standard of cleanliness in governorates and cancel fairs that attract the crowds. “Governors should also inspect medical waste incinerators and make sure they are not a source of infection,” said the statement.

The Committee of Human Rights recommended that the goverment continue disinfecting and sanitising prisons, orphanages and social care houses. “The government should also eliminate the phenomenon of homeless and street children who could be an ‘infection bomb,'” said the statement.

The Committee of Foreign Relations revealed that it had contacted a large number of Egyptian ambassadors serving in foreign countries to help Egyptians living in these countries return home. “Egyptian Ambassador in the US Yasser Reda helped an Egyptian student who was studying in the US return home,” said the statement, adding that the committee also helped an Egyptian navigator who was in Gabon return home.

The industry committee recommended that the goverment relieve industries of paying 50 per cent of their social insurance. “The government should also hurry up to implement the central bank’s decision to reduce the price of natural gas used by factories by $3.5.

“The government should also support industries with cash compensations so that they do not have to dispose of workers or shut down factories,” said the statement.