Egypt records highest covid death toll in 3 months

A picture taken show the Great pyramids lighten-up with blue light and reading with a laser projection the message “Stay Home” on the Giza plateau outside the Egyptian capital of Cairo, on the world heritage day, as the country fights against the spread of the COVID-19, on 18 April 2020 [KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images]

Egypt has recorded the highest death toll from coronavirus in over three months as the country grapples with its fourth wave, with cases rising since the beginning of September.

The news comes after the Egyptian medical union announced on Sunday that 600 Egyptian doctors have died since the start of the pandemic.

In May, the medical union lost 35 doctors in two weeks and at the time it was reported that the ratio of doctors out of the national total of deaths in Egypt was six times higher than in the US.

Egypt has had a total of 303,783 cases, and 17,294 recorded deaths. It is one of seven countries in Africa battling a fourth wave of coronavirus including Algeria, Benin, Kenya, Tunisia, Mauritius and Somalia.

The Egyptian government has been criticised for failing to impose precautionary measures to counter the increase in cases, as Egyptians do not abide by social distancing or mask wearing whilst on public transport and in government buildings. The government has refused to close shops and restaurants and does not apply fines and penalties for people who do not adhere to precautionary measures.

READ: 10 human rights groups call on Egypt to release Mocha, who attempted suicide in August

Analysts have said that politicians appear in public without masks and not socially distanced from one another for fear that doing so will further impact the tourist industry.

In August the World Travel and Tourism Council reported that Egypt was losing roughly 31 million Egyptian pounds ($2 million) a day from being included on the UK’s travel ‘red list’.

Some 844,000 people have lost their jobs in the tourism and travel sectors because of the pandemic.

Since the start of the pandemic the Egyptian government has harassed doctors who challenged the official narrative on the figures or the state of the healthcare system in the country.

Last year the World Bank approved a $50 million COVID-19 fund to help strengthen Cairo’s covid response but did not take into account these reprisals.

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