Hot weather will help control coronavirus in Egypt – official

Studies have proven that high temperatures and hot weather help in curbing the spread of coronavirus  according to Mohamed Hassan, deputy health minister for public health initiatives.

“So I think that when weather temperatures in Egypt reach 26 and more, this will help control the virus to a large extent,” Hassan added.

The number of coronavirus patients in Egypt has quadrupled in one month, jumping from 8,400 on 8 May to 32,612 on 6 June.

The death toll also increased by almost 1,000 in one month, up from 514 on 9 May to almost 1,200 on Saturday, 6 June.

Addressing a meeting of parliament’s health committee Sunday, Hassan said 80 per cent of coronavirus patients in Egypt now recover without the need for hospital treatment.

“Besides, I want also to say that though the number of infection cases has largely increased, we are still far from the “severe” phase that many countries have seen,” Hassan said, indicating the Egypt is “now in the 17th week of infection, and figures show that the rate of full recovery reached 25 percent, and that the rate of deaths dropped from seven percent to three percent.”

Hassan added that 50 percent of coronavirus cases in Egypt are being treated in home-based isolation.

“The infected cases that do not show symptoms for 10 days are considered recovered and non-infectious cases, without need for PCR analysis,” Hassan said, adding: “This is the new strategy of the Ministry of Health to reduce pressure on hospitals, while patients who do not show positive symptoms for 10 days are automatically released from hospital.”

Hassan said the use of blood plasma in treating coronavirus patients has shown large success in Egypt.

“It has so far led to releasing eight patients from ICUs, and I want to say that the blood plasma of one recovered case can be used to treat two patients,” Hassan stated, adding that “Hospitals need 1,000 blood plasmas to treat patients suffering from severe coronavirus conditions.”