Egypt's health ministry reported 232 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the highest daily number since the discovery of the virus in Egypt in mid-February, bringing the country’s total number of confirmed cases to 3,891.

The ministry said in a statement that the total number of COVID-19 deaths has now reached 287 nationwide, with 11 new deaths today.

The ministry said that 69 Egyptian patients have fully have recovered and been discharged from isolation hospitals and quarantine facilities, bringing the total number of recoveries from the virus so far to 1,004.

The number of patients who have retested negative, including the complete recoveries, has reached 1,334, ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said.

The newly detected cases were detected through the ministry’s investigation and contact tracing protocols, Megahed added.

In a video message, Health Minister Hala Zayed called upon all citizens to adhere to social distancing and reduce contact during the month of Ramadan, which begins on Friday.

She advised those who are fasting to drink an adequate amount of water between iftar and sohour, the two nighttime Ramadan meals, and to follow a healthy diet, which helps strengthen the immunity system.

She also thanked medical staff at the ministry's central laboratories, where coronavirus tests have been conducted, for their effective role in the early detection of the positive cases nationwide.

The virus department at the central laboratories conducts virus analyses. It has a total staff capacity of up to 900 individuals including doctors, pharmacists, chemists, lab technicians, and administrators, the minister added.

The medics have carried out 200,000 rapid diagnostic tests and 90,000 polymerase chain reactions (PCR) analyses, in addition to monitoring the diagnosed cases at the isolation and quarantine hospitals until they retest negative and fully recover.

The number of viral disease labs has been increased to 27 nationwide, including 12 whose work capacity is being updated to accommodate from 20 to 100 cases every five hours, in order to increase the number of nose swabs tests for suspected cases.

The aforementioned labs possess 36 PCR analysis kits, nine in the main laboratory and 27 in governorate branches, according to Zayed.

An additional 12 PCR devices are expected to be provided during the next month.

All the labs have been linked together via an electronic network to ensure the speedy arrival of the results and to ensure complete confidentiality of data.

The minister also stressed that there is sufficient availability of swabs and test samples for PCR tests.

Short link:

