Egypt’s health ministry announces new initiative in counting Covid cases

Egypt’s health ministry announces new initiative in counting Covid cases

"We are now thinking proactively in dealing with the pandemic,“ Islam Anan, professor of pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacoeconomics, told Al-Ahram Weekly when asked about the newly-announced initiative by the Health Ministry to register and monitor coronavirus cases isolating at home.



On Monday, Health Minister Hala Zayed said that starting 6 January medical teams would be designated to visit homes and register patients self-isolating who had not passed through the public health system and that 5,400 health units and medical centres nationwide would follow-up on their conditions.



Despite a majority of moderate and mild coronavirus cases in Egypt preferring to be treated at home there has not been an electronic registry to add home-isolated cases to official totals, leading some officials to assert that the real number of infections could be 10 times the number monitored by the Health Ministry.



"Many coronavirus cases are treated at home and don't appear in the ministry's daily bulletins. The number of Covid-19 infections may be 10 times the number tracked by the ministry,“ Presidential Advisor for Health Affairs Mohamed Awad Tageddin said in a media statement on Sunday.



The newly launched electronic registry, says Anan, "aims to boost accuracy