Corona is ravaging in #egypt but the government still insists in all official statements that it’s doing what it can but people are not adhering to precautions. Here I debunk these statements.
1- the gov’t releases unbelievably silly statements that the rate is only hundreds of cases + 30-50 deaths daily. Signaling to people a totally false sense of security or that the virus is “under control”. These are all blatant lies.
2- The government main concern is “controlling information” not the situation. The gov’t extremely restricts pcr testing. It has the capacity for > 45,000 tests per day but they only run 5K- 15K. The @WHO urged Egypt several times to do more testing but in vain.
3- I spoke with about a dozen doctors in #Egypt since last year. The health ministry sent a protocol that tells them to restrict pcr testing & treat patients based on symptoms or at best chest x-ray & CT scans. Many hospitals don’t have CT devices to begin with.
4- those who die with strong covid19 symptoms are not considered covid deaths because the government deprives people, even medical teams, from access to testing.
5- A BBC investigation found out that there were about 60,000 deaths likely from Covid that were not registered as such in only three months in 2020. bbc.com/arabic/middlee…
6- the government wants to signal that its plan is working. But in fact there has been a very short lockdown in egypt and since it was lifted in summer 2020 the government seems to prioritize economy.
7- even for the vaccine rollout plan, things are quite chaotic. Younger ppl vaccinated before elderly and political favoritism playing out: e.g parliamentarians & their families vaccinated last week, jumping over any health criteria. m.elwatannews.com/news/details/5…
8- vaccine rollout is opaque, lacks scientific planning. only about 1.5 million registered to get the vaccine and only 150K vaccinated since February. This means Egypt needs virtually decades to vaccinate a meaningful percentage of its adult population. hrw.org/news/2021/03/0…
9- The general apathy by people to register for vaccination is a natural result of the government signals and daily statements that the pandemic is only affecting a few in a country of 100 million. Also, reflects general lack of trust in the government & inadequate reach-out.
10- In previous crises, the government kept draining its credibility. E.g recently patients died in ICU units because of anticipated & preventable drop in hospitals oxygen supplies. No one was held accountable. nytimes.com/2021/01/18/wor…
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In this thread 👇 I want to explain a little bit more of the context surrounding the campaign of arrests, prosecutions & jail of women in #Egypt under "morality" charges that @HRW documented 15 of since late April, and why it's horrifying hrw.org/news/2020/08/1…
This campaign is NOT a "side" effect of oppression in Egypt. Neo-patriarchy is, by definition, a core doctorine of the nationwide oppressive machinery revived to its fullest following 2013 military takeover & re-vitalized & inspired by conservative, populist military rules (Sisi)
first: you get struck knowing that arrests targeted women for videos & photos of themselves dancing or singing on TikTok, Instagram & other apps. All those accounts (except one marginal anonymous without followers) contain "ordinary" footage. women in full clothes. nothing more.