Egypt

Egypt: Metito and Hassan Allam to reuse agricultural wastewater in Ismailia

Afrik 21 (Link: Egypt: Metito and Hassan Allam to reuse agricultural wastewater in Ismailia)

One of the largest agricultural wastewater treatment plants has recently been put into operation in the governorate of Ismailia in Egypt. The treatment plant was built by the Emirati company Metito and Hassan Allam Construction, an Egyptian-based engineering company.

Abdel Fattah al-Sissi recently visited the Sinai. The Egyptian president was present in the governorate of Ismailia for the inauguration of one of the largest agricultural wastewater treatment and reuse plants in the world. Named Al Mahsamma, the treatment plant covers an area of 42,000 m², with a production capacity of one million m³ per day.

The plant was built by a consortium formed by the Emirati company Metito and Hassan Allam Construction, an engineering company based in Egypt. “Water is transferred to the plant from the Ismailia Irrigation Drainage Canal, located west of the Suez Canal, through two individual pumping stations under the Suez Canal to the Srabuim Siphon, from where the water is then drawn through the plant’s pumping station using eight vertical turbine pumps – six pumps in operation and two on standby – each pumping at a speed of 7,000 m³/hour,” explains Metito.

A $100 million investment

The construction of the Al Mahsamma agricultural wastewater treatment plant is part of the Egyptian government’s policy to preserve natural water resources (surface and groundwater) by investing heavily in non-conventional water resources such as desalinationand reuse of treated wastewater. The purpose of this project, implemented under the supervision of the Engineering Authority of the Egyptian Armed Forces, is to provide the water resources needed for irrigation.

Metito estimates that treated wastewater from Al Mahsamma will be used to irrigate more than 28,300 hectares of plantations in the Sinai Peninsula. The project will thus support the Sinai Development Strategy, an initiative of the Egyptian government to counter terrorism in this part of the country through development. “The Al Mahsama plant will help combat water scarcity. It will have a resounding impact on Egypt’s water security programme and will transform the vision of wastewater treatment in Africa,” explains Hassan Allam, president of Hassan Allam Construction.

The project will also contribute to the clean-up of Lake Al Temsah located west of the Suez Canal. The construction of the Al Mahsamma plant required an investment of 100 million dollars.

Jean Marie Takouleu

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You Won’t Have To Wait An Eternity To See King Tut At The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM)

Forbes, by Gretchen Kelly

TOPSHOT - This picture taken on September 21, 2019 shows a view of the golden sarcophagus of the ... [+] AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Museum lovers have had to postpone visits to see the great art of the world until the Covid-19 pandemic is over.

One of the most anticipated global art events in 2020 was the planned opening of Cairo’s Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM).

While the museum’s opening has now been postponed to early 2021, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities is showing virtual tours on Instagram of the treasures of Egypt. One can tour archaeological sites like the Tomb of Mehu in Saqqara and the Pyramid of Djoser as well as numerous museum exhibitions.

A picture taken on April 13, 2020, shows a view of the Great pyramid of Khafre (Chephren) seen ... [+] AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

For lovers of Ancient Egypt, the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum is well worth waiting for. The one billion dollar beauty houses the artifacts collected from the Tomb of King Tutankhamun by Howard Carter in 1922 as well as thousands of other heretofore unseen treasures, the Holy Grail of archaeology connoisseurs.

Dr. Tarek Tawfik, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Archeology, Cairo University and the first Director General of the Grand Egyptian Museum Project, says that the planned opening will include invitations to world leaders as well as to the general public, so officials are being “very careful” about setting the dates to a possible vaccine solution, immunity or other change in the current pandemic status.“

This picture taken on August 4, 2019 shows the 3,200-year-old pink-granite colossal statue of King ... [+] AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

When the museum complex itself opens, says Professor Tawfik, the sheer size of it, 490,000 square feet, will lend itself to the creative use of social distancing.  “Obviously, hygiene is a big issue,” Tawfik explains, “but with such space, we will have good visitor flow and choices like the ability to download commentary with QR codes directly to your personal device instead of using museum equipment.”

Excerpt: read on You won't have to wait an eternity to see King Tut at The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM)

Never let a crisis go to waste

Al Ahram Weekly and Ahram Online, by Azza Radwan Sedky

The Western media has been systematically misreporting the Covid-19 outbreak in Egypt, writes Azza Radwan Sedky

Azza Radwan Sedky , Tuesday 21 Apr 2020

Even during a sweeping pandemic that is testing humanity’s resilience, “they” don’t stop to ponder the calamity at hand. On the contrary, they are even exploiting it by twisting facts and seeing the bad in the good. “They” are those who have been against Egypt from day one: the Western media whose journalists roll their eyes disdainfully after every Egyptian government decision, mock its validity, and then dump their scorn on us soon afterwards.

I have come to know much about the Western media’s manipulative journalistic practices. I have also come to realise that some Western journalists work relentlessly against Egypt. Compare “Made-in-Egypt ventilators” and “Egypt announces financial stimulus package to cushion Covid-19 impact” to “Egypt is more concerned with controlling information than containing it,” “Egypt delivers medical aid to Italy despite severe shortages at home,” “Reporting on the coronavirus: Egypt muzzles critical journalists” and “Will Egypt’s military corner the coronavirus market?” 

The first two headlines are from the Egyptian press, and the latter group has been written to perpetuate objectives that Western writers have in mind and to spice things up against Egypt. 

In a UK Guardian newspaper article headed “Egypt: rate of coronavirus cases likely to be higher than figures suggest,” the subheading was “Infectious disease specialist from the University of Toronto provides grim picture of possible spread.” The specialist concluded that since several tourists had returned from Egypt with Covid-19, this must mean that there were 19,000 Covid-19 cases in Egypt. This was on 15 March.  

It’s been a month since then, and figures on the Worldometer Website say that Egypt has 1,939 Covid-19 cases and has had 146 deaths. Egypt has only conducted 25,000 tests, which is not many, but the fact that the death rate is so low is indicative of the number of positive cases. According to the New York Times, the World Health Organisation (WHO) “has praised Egypt’s efforts but has also said they can be scaled up in some areas.”  If the pattern in other countries is an indication, where there have been brisk increases in the number of people testing positive on tests, Egypt’s death rate should have reached six figures by now – if the Guardian specialist’s assumptions had been correct. 

Most of the tourists returning to their countries from Egypt had been on a cruise ship in Upper Egypt. There were significant numbers testing positive on this cruise ship, but this does not mean that Upper Egypt as a whole was infected. While those infected on the Egyptian cruise ship numbered in the hundreds, those on cruise liners around the world were in the thousands and suffered the same tragic consequences. However, the specialist quoted by the Guardian did not multiply these cases by 200 to come up with the astronomical figure he suggested for Egypt. That applied only to Egypt. 

“Will Egypt’s military corner the coronavirus market?” was the headline of another article in the Western press indicative of a premeditated intention to warp Egypt’s image. According to this article, the hike in the prices of ventilators and medical equipment in Egypt has reached 300 per cent. When the Egyptian military opted to assist citizens and provide masks at the price of LE12, when they were being sold in pharmacies for LE70, the article said that this was an attempt at “cornering the market” and not what it clearly was – a desire to assist people in need and protect them against spikes in prices. 

In the meantime, according to the Los Angeles Times, the US federal government “is quietly seizing orders [of medical supplies], leaving medical providers across the country in the dark about where the material is going and how they can get what they need to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.” Where the supplies are being rerouted to and to whom they are being directed is unknown. “Hospital and health officials describe an opaque process in which federal officials sweep in without warning to expropriate supplies,” the article said.

It would have been better if the writer of the article on Egypt had looked more closely at what was going on in the United States and had understood more clearly what the Egyptian military was doing for the well-being of the population in Egypt.

According to another Western newspaper headline, “Egypt is more concerned with controlling information than containing the coronavirus.” However, in fact Jean Jabbour, head of the WHO’s Egypt office, has said that the Egyptian government’s response has been “prompt.” “There are 2,000 beds allocated for Covid-19 treatment, half of which are in intensive care units and 600 with ventilators, while 400,000 test kits have been delivered,” he said.

According to Egypt Today, “Egypt provides 11,000 beds in seven university dorms to receive Covid-19 cases,” and all those arriving at airports are being quarantined for 14 days. The numbers, of course, keep changing. A headline in Al-Ahram on 11 April said that “Egypt set up 94 hospitals and 38,000 university dorms to receive and isolate coronavirus cases.”

Another Western press article entitled “Egypt’s family planning policies tested by Covid-19” assumed that since families were under lockdown in Egypt there could be a population surge. This is possible, of course, but doesn’t it apply to every locked-in society anywhere in the world? The article, however, talked about Egypt’s “married with two kids’ policies” succumbing to Covid-19. 

In another article entitled “Egypt battles Covid-19 amid a flood of misinformation and conspiracy theories,” the writer implied that these things were uniquely Egyptian. However, the US Reader’s Digest has also discussed the growth of conspiracy theories around the world. In an article entitled “Coronavirus conspiracy theories you shouldn’t believe,” it said that among these were “coronavirus is a hoax,” “all these precautions are an overkill,” “coronavirus was Canada’s bioweapon stolen by China,” “greed and gun violence accidentally unleashed Covid-19”, “Chinese eating habits caused the virus,” “it’s all a plot to make the president look bad” and “Covid-19 is a ruse to distract us from a ‘doomsday’ asteroid.” 

It is not uncommon for people during hard times to come up with, and maybe even believe, false information. But I wish Western journalists and some of the Arab ones who write for the Western media would balance their reporting on Egypt. It can’t be all bad in Egypt; and it can’t be all good elsewhere. 

In Old Cairo, a Subdued Ramadan Looms as Virus Shutters the City

The New York Times, by Declan Walsh (who couldn't let a crisis go to waste—started off on the right track but had to, had to end it on the usual note) 

The holiest month in the Islamic calendar promises this year to be the strangest ever for the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims. In Cairo, known as the city of a thousand minarets, the coronavirus has cast a long shadow.

Ramadan lanterns for sale this week in Cairo’s Bab Zuweyla neighborhood.Credit...Sima Diab for The New York Times

CAIRO — For over a thousand years, Cairo’s oldest mosques kept their doors open — through the Black Death of the 14th century, the devastating cholera epidemics of the 19th century and the Spanish flu in the winter of 1918 that claimed 140,000 Egyptian lives.

Then the coronavirus hit.

On the first day of the lockdown at Al Azhar, a famed center of scholarship that opened in A.D. 972, tears flowed down the cheeks of the muezzin, Sheikh Mohamed Rashad Zaghloul, as he made the call to prayer in an empty hall.

“It was hard on my heart,” he said after midday prayers one day last week at the mosque, where a stray cat meandered between the ancient pillars. “When I call people, nobody can come. It feels like God is refusing us.”

The shuttered ancient mosques are a harbinger of another event that will be jarringly altered by the pandemic. Ramadan, the holy month of fasting, begins at the end of this week and promises this year to be the strangest experienced by any Cairene, not to mention 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide.

A sacred period that is rooted in gathering — at mosques, homes and on the streets — will be replaced with a month of solitary prayer, stifled celebrations and gnawing anxiety over the silent march of a virus that has closed a city that never, ordinarily, sleeps.

“It’s not going to be easy,” said Dr. Islam Hussein, an Egyptian virologist based in the United States who runs a YouTube channelthat educates Egyptians about Covid-19. “People are attached to the rituals. It’s going to hurt.”

Traditionally, Ramadan imposes a gentler rhythm on the usual hurly-burly of Cairo, a loud and boisterous megalopolis. At night, sidewalk cafes and high-end hotels teem with patrons who socialize into the wee hours. Then comes suhoor, the predawn meal before another day of fasting.

Families visit one another, or seriously ill relatives. Even lax Muslims observe the fast, and many abstain from alcohol.

This year, residents will be locked down at home under a nightly curfew that starts at 8 o’clock. Some wealthier Cairenes have fled to beach resorts. The great ancient sites, like the pyramids, are closed, and police officers roam scenic sites, like the bridges on the Nile, to discourage people from lingering.

“This Ramadan is going to be flavorless,” said Abdul Rehman, 19, at the deserted lantern store he tends in Khan el Khalili, the city’s most famous bazaar.

First the tourists vanished, after the closing of the Cairo airport. Now Ramadan had been canceled, at least commercially speaking.

“I just sit here and wait,” Mr. Rehman said glumly, as two women, veiled and wearing face masks, skirted past him down an empty alleyway.

 Read on here. 

Is this the world's stinkiest holiday?

CNN Travel (Link Is this the world's stinkiest holiday?) The video that goes with the article is worth watching. It tells quite a bit about Sham El Neseem in Egypt

(CNN) — It's the world's oldest ironic holiday.

 

To discover the festival Shem En-Naseem, or "smell the breeze" in Arabic, the first stop is a fish market. Every year Egyptians crowd around the counter to buy the holiday's signature dish, a putrid fish called faseekh. It's a mullet from the Mediterranean packed in salt and aged for over a month without refrigeration. The longer it ages the more salt is needed.

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  Raw Faseekh is typically served with onion and lemon.

It's not hard finding someone who is selling the fish this time of year. The breeze wafts the foul smell across neighborhoods but for some, the scent is sweet. "I love faseekh. I love my son and I love faseekh," says Maher Shehata, the owner of Al Fouad fish market in Cairo. Shehata, 58, has worked in the shop his entire life. His family began selling faseekh over 70 years ago.

Health warnings

Shehata's 27-year-old son, Peter, keeps a close eye on his father too. Someday, he'll take over the shop. "The quality and low price. This is the lesson I take away from here," says Peter. Shehata tells me one of the things he loves most about the job is interacting with the people.

 

"Faseek is the people's food. It's not just for the average person but everyone," he tells me. "And now the high class people eat it because it is given very clean and sliced into fillet." Proper handling and keeping the fish clean is extremely important. Every year people go to the hospital after eating bad fish and sometimes, they go to the morgue.

 

Egypt's health ministry warns people against eating the fish, but the message falls on deaf ears as millions devour the stinky delicacy. "I love the taste, even though I'm sick with high blood pressure, I eat it," says Hoda, one of the costumers. "I tell people one thing. If you don't want to get sick then you have to buy faseekh from someone you trust. A clean place," says Shehata.

 

When asked if the smell lingers on Shehata when he goes home, he just laughs it off. When the same question is put to his son he tells me: "I take a very good shower. A very good shower."

 

The ancient festival dates back to the age of the pharaohs. The receding Nile flood stranded fish, leaving them to rot. Ancient Egyptians wait until they were good and ripe before eating.

 

It's a truly Egyptian holiday embraced by both Christians and Muslims.

Age divide

At a house in Cairo neighborhood of Moqattam, we meet the Ahmed family. Roughly a dozen family members cram into the apartment to celebrate the holiday akin to Thanksgiving. "We all love Shem En Naseem because all of the family eats together," says 13-year-old Mariam Ahmed.

 

As lunch approaches, preparation begins. Zenab, 61, guts the faseekh and places it on a plate. For those with a more sensitive pallet, she also serves reenga, an aged, smoked fish. "The only way to eat faseekh is with onion and lots of lemon," says 63-year-old Adel Wahba. As the family devours the meal there is a noticeable age divide. "The old generation use to eat faseekh every year," says Wahba. "But now, not all the young people doesn't like too much."

 

For those interested in tasting the fish, here's some advice.

 

"If you are going to eat faseekh just try a little bit because maybe your stomach cannot afford it," says Wahba. "I advise you not to eat faseekh," says 21-year-old Omar Khaled. "It's too bad."

 

If you're still wondering how it tastes, watch the video to get an idea.

 

كورونا في كندا

الاهرام اليومي ١٨ ابريل ٢٠٢٠

بقلم عزة رضوان صدقي

دعونا نتعرف على الأسلوب التي تتبعه إحدى الدول تجاه الوباء الفيروسي كورونا، وأخص كندا كوني أقطن بها شهورا طوالا من السنة، وملمّة بالمستجدات هناك. في ١٥ يناير الماضي ظهرت أول حاله كورونا، واليوم، وحتى كتابة هذه السطور، فيروس كورونا متواجد بجميع المقاطعات الكندية مع وجود أكبر مجموعات في مقاطعات كيبك وإنتاريو وبريتش كولومبيا. تجاوزت أعداد المصابين الـ ٢٣ ألفا، ويوجد ٦٦٩ حالة وفاة، وقد تم شفاء ٦,٣٠٠ حالة. لا يوجد دلائل على انخفاض عدد المصابين، وإن كان انتشاره أقل من بلاد أخرى عديدة. السؤال الآن كيف يتعامل الكنديون والمسئولون منهم مع كورونا؟    

أكثر ما ساعد الكنديين على تحمل عبء كورونا هو الشفافية والوضوح اللذين يتواصل بهما المسئولون مع المواطنين. اعتاد الكنديون الاستماع لرئيس الوزراء جستن ترودو في نفس الميعاد من كل يوم بتوقيت العاصمة، وحديثه يجذب مئات الآلاف من المشاهدات. يقف ترودو أمام منزله حيث يتَّبع العزل الذاتي بعد أن أصيبت زوجته صوفي ترودو بفيروس كورونا جرّاء رحلة إلى بريطانيا. تعافت صوفي ترودو من الفيروس، ولكن يستمر ترودو وعائلته في العزل. أن يتحدث رئيس الوزراء بانتظام من نفس المكان ونفس الساعة هو قرار متعمّد وصائب، لتصبح عادة يومية ينتظرها الجميع، واستمراره في العزل يدفع الكنديين على نفس التصرف وهو المكوث في المنازل ومزاولة البعد الاجتماعي 

 قرارات عديدة تتخذ يوميا ويعلن عنها رئيس الوزراء.  من قرار العزل ١٤ يوما لكل قادم إلى البلاد من العالقين خارجها، إلى الدفع بمبلغ ٢٠٠ بليون دولار لمساعدة الشركات التي تضرّرت من جراء كورونا، ولدعم كل من فقد وظيفته بسببها، وتحفيز الأبحاث لإيجاد علاج لها. من خلال مبادرة الاستجابة للطوارئ الحديثة تصرف الدولة ما يعادل ٥٠٠ دولار أسبوعيا لمدة ١٦ أسبوعا للفرد المتعسِّر. إلا أنه ربما يكون لهذا التشريع رد فعل سلبي، فقد يُفضِّل من يقل راتبه عن ٥٠٠ دولار عدم الذهاب إلى العمل حتى وإن كان تواجده في العمل حيويا. كذلك لم تتخذ كندا أسلوب مقابلة الأذى بمثله، بعد أن أعلنت إدارة ترامب أنها ستمنع تصدير أقنعة واقية الي كندا بل طمأن ترودو الكنديين إبأن الدولة تمكنت من استيراد ملايين الأقنعة من الصين. وحاليا تعرض الحكومة وظائف بدوام كامل لجميع جنود الاحتياط في القوات المسلحة الكندية، فكما قال ترودو: "تعزيز صفوف الجيش سيساعد على تعويض بعض العواقب الاقتصادية للفيروس ويضمن دعم مجتمعاتنا بشكل جيد

ينتظر الكنديون أيضا المؤتمر الصحفي الذي يعقده مسئولو الصحة في كل مقاطعة على حدة في نفس الساعة من كل يوم. أصبح هذا المؤتمر بمثابة أهم وسيلة لمعرفة ما قد يُستجد.  المصوِّرون هم فقط المتواجدون مع المسئولين الذين يجيبون على الأسئلة التي يطرحها الصحفيون والأفراد عبر الهاتف. لا يحتاج الكنديون اللجوء للإعلام لمعرفة الوضع، فالمسئولون هم المصدر الوحيد الموثوق به. الإعلام يتكلم عن الحالة العامة، ولكنه لا يقتبس أو يستنتج المعلومات

في مقاطعة بريتش كولومبيا مثلا أصبحت المؤتمرات الصحفية لمسئولة الصحه الدكتورة بوني هنري جزءًا من الحياة اليومية وبنبرة صوت هادئة ودون الاعتماد على المصطلحات العلمية، تلخِّص الوضع ببساطة حتى ولو كان مزعجا. في بريتش كولومبيا أكثر من ١٤٤٥ حالة بعضهم أصيب وهو خارج البلاد، والبعض الآخر كان على متن السفن السياحية التي تفشّي فيها الوباء، لكن من المؤسف أن وباء كورونا تفشّي في ٢٤ دور رعاية للمسنين في المقاطعه. تم ربط معظم حالات الوفاة من كورونا (٥٨ حالة) بمرافق رعاية كبار السن.  وقد ألغت هنري العمليات الجراحية غير الاضطرارية والإجراءات العلاجية الأخرى بالمستشفيات، حتى تصبح المستشفيات على استعداد تام لاستقبال حالات كورونا.  بينما أرقام الحالات بالتزايد عامة في مقاطعات أخرى، إلا أن اليوم تشير الأرقام في بريتش كولومبيا إلى الاستقرار كما لو كان المنحني قد بدأ في الانخفاض، إلا أن د. هنري حثّت الجميع على عدم التراخي في الالتزام بالقواعد حتى في الأعياد التي هي على الأبواب.  مع مرور الوقت وشدة المحنة وجب شكر من تفانوا في عملهم، لذا ففي الساعة السابعة مساءً من كل يوم، وهو ميعاد تغيير النوبات في معظم المستشفيات، يخرج أفواج من الكنديين إلى شرفاتهم وأمام منازلهم بالذات ممن يقيمون بقرب من المستشفيات، ويحدثون ضوضاء وصخبا، معلنين تقديرهم للعاملين في مجال الرعاية الصحية الذين يعرضون أنفسهم للخطر في هذه الأوقات العصيبة دون كلل

 إن الوضع في كندا، كما هو الوضع في معظم بلاد العالم: خوف وتوتر مع انتظار شعاع أمل. فلننهِ هذا المقال بنقطة تفاؤل، عن طريق دراسة تقودها جامعة بريتش كولومبيا UBC اكتشفت عقارا تجريبيا يمكن أن يمنع بشكل كبير المراحل المبكرة من الفيروس في الأنسجة البشرية، وقد قال المسئول عن الدراسة د. جوزيف بنينجر "هناك أمل للتغلب على هذا الوباء المخيف".  دعونا نتفاءل الخير

Interview: In the post-Covid-19 world, the national state will have a bigger role and bigger challenges: Professor Bahgat Korany

ِAhram Online, by Dina Ezzat

After the end of the Covid-19 crisis many international powers that have been engaged in regional crisis resolution efforts will be focused on home, says expert Bahgat Korany

International Relations Professor Bahgat Korany

There is no telling when or how the Covid-19 scare will recede, much less come to an end. But whatever happens over the coming few months, argues Bahgat Korany, professor of international relations at the American University in Cairo, the world is set to have new terms of engagement.

“Clearly things are changing and they will continue to change,” Korany said. He added that we have seen how this new coronavirus brought to question the very concept of globalisation, and how it gave a new lease of life to the role of the national state.

An obvious example, he said, is the European Union whose organisations have failed to reach a unified or even synchronised plan to face up to the enormous health challenge posed by Covid-19.

“So, yes, we could safely argue that in the post-Covid-19 world we will see a bigger role for the national state, given that it has been the national state that had to face up to the challenge of the new coronavirus,” Korany said. 

He nonetheless added that the national state will also face serous questions about the quality of governance.

“We have seen how the health systems of some European countries have failed to cope efficiently with the new coronavirus and once the crisis ends, governments will have to answer to the people,” he said.

But Korany cautions against arguing that the new coronavirus outbreak ends the inevitability of globalisation.

According to Korany, globalisation will still be there. “Think, for example, of the World Health Organisation and its unprecedented central role in the management of the Covid-19 crisis. So it is too hasty to argue that globalisation is coming to an end. Instead, globalisation will be redefined,” he said.

In parallel, the core precepts of international relations will be redefined after the end of the pandemic. “The very concept of security is set to be revised. We will not be just talking geopolitics when we talk international relations. We will also be talking epidemics,” he said.

Beyond the Covid-19 crisis, Korany argued, many countries will have to focus on stimulating their economies devastated as a result of lockdowns aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus.

The Middle East, Korany argued, is one region that should expect less international interest in the management — much less the resolution — of its many chronic conflicts, from the Palestinian cause, to the security situation in Libya or the refugees problem of Syria.

The attention of countries of the north Mediterranean, he suggested, will be more focused on stopping waves of illegal migration that have been coming from south of the Mediterranean. As such, the political investment of European countries in the management of the Libyan ordeal will be more focused on its affects rather than finding a sustainable political solution, “at least in the short run.”

The Middle East, Korany reminds, has a little over five percent of the world population while its share of world conflicts is only a little under 20 percent. During the past few years, these conflicts attracted many political initiatives from several world capitals, almost replacing the role of UN missions. This, Korany added, is set to change significantly.

“When I think of acute problems like those in Syria, Libya or Yemen, I am not sure that for the next few years the world will have a lot of energy to launch new initiatives for political resolutions,” he said. Meanwhile, some regional powers that opted for a consequential political role in the region might have to give up on their ambitions.

Excerpt: read on english.ahram.org.eg

BCG jabs mean you are six times less likely to get coronavirus, study finds

The Telegraph

New research suggests that countries with widespread tuberculosis vaccination programmes have much lower rates of the Covid-19 virus

ByVerity Bowman8 April 2020 • 4:58pm

 

Coronavirus death rates are almost six times lower in countries with a widespread vaccination programme involving the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) jab, a new study has found.

The BCG vaccine gives immunity to tuberculosis, but mass vaccination was dropped in the UK in 2005 when rates of the lung infection dropped.

Yet US-based experts now think the vaccine could improve immune systems and protect people from infection. 

New research, which is yet to be peer reviewed, suggests that countries with widespread BCG vaccination programmes have much lower rates of the coronavirus than nations without.

Looking at the mortality per one million residents of each country with sufficient data, the researchers made an estimate on the coronavirus fatality rate from the top 50 countries reporting highest case events.

Researchers factored in a nation's economic status as well as its elderly population, factors which could distort the overall picture of death rates.

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health experts said in their paper: "The intriguing observation of a significant association between BCG use and lower Covid-19-attributable mortality remained discernable.

“While mortality attributable to Covid-19 has devastated global health systems and economies, striking regional differences have been observed.

“Covid-19-attributable mortality among BCG-using countries was 5.8 times lower than in non BCG-using countries.”

The paper was published on the online archive MedRxiv rather than an academic journal as it has not yet been peer-reviewed by other academics.

The research comes as others around the world launch trials investigating the possible benefits of BCG vaccination amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

One team in Australia is trialing whether the vaccination will protect against Covid-19 or reduce severity or Covid-19 in healthcare workers.

The Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne fast-tracking human studies in order to find a quick solution to protect those on the frontline of the pandemic. 

It is hoped that the vaccine will boost the immune systems of health workers, who are currently only protected by PPE. 

Researchers from the institute said: “The Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine is designed to protect against tuberculosis.

“However it also boosts immunity to protect against other infections. 

“The purpose of the BRACE trial is to find out whether BCG vaccination protects against Covid-19 or reduces severity or Covid-19 in Australian healthcare workers.”

It is thought around 4,000 healthcare workers will participate in the six-month trial. 

 

Egypt's daily workers struggle to make ends meet

Al-Ahram Weekly - Ahram Online

Five million Egyptian daily workers are struggling to make ends meet amid the repercussions of the Covid-19 crisis

Nada Zaki , Sunday 5 Apr 2020

A daily struggle to make ends meet

With social distancing and staying at home the most used precautionary measures to face up to the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide, millions of families are being threatened with poverty as their sources of income vanish and workplaces close.

Daily workers and the families of those who do not have fixed jobs often suffer the most, including in Egypt.

According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), Egypt has 5.2 million daily workers, representing 20 per cent of the total labour force in the country. Almost all of them do not have social or medical insurance, making them dependent on what they can earn day to day.

The government is working on solutions to support those affected by the crisis, however, and the Social Solidarity Ministry has said it will add 80,000 to 100,000 families to the Takaful and Karama social programmes at a cost of LE800 million.

The Ministry of Manpower has also announced support for casual workers with a onetime LE500 allowance. Over 1.2 million informal workers applied for the grant in less than a week after the government announced the call, according to Minister of Manpower Mohammed Safaan.

Beit Al-Zakat, one of the biggest social solidarity organisations in Egypt and under the direction of Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb, is making the monthly allowance it provides for families in need substantially higher over the next two months.

However, NGOs have so far played a more important role in mitigating the effects of staying at home on the families of daily workers.

The Abwab Al-Kheir Foundation, an NGO, has been covering the expenses of 50 families of daily workers in the Al-Ayyat neighbourhood of Cairo and will continue to do so for the next three months. It is currently collecting donations for another 50 families.

“While many of us joke about getting fat because of staying at home in quarantine and during curfew hours, for others staying at home means hunger and suffering,” Haitham Al-Tabie, the founder of Abwab Al-Kheir, told Al-Ahram Weekly

Al-Tabie said the foundation supported each family with LE1,000 a month, “which is approximately the amount of money they would get from working for two weeks,” he added.

The foundation, which has been implementing social-support projects in 19 governorates for over two years, believes that supporting families by paying them almost half their monthly income can help them to maintain a decent standard of living and prevent them from having to “beg on the streets.”

Al-Tabie highlighted the fact that most of the families the Foundation supports rely on daily labourers working in the informal sector of the sector of the economy who “spend what they earn on food”. 

“Most of the workers work on construction sites or in factories, earning from LE50 to LE70 per day. But due to the Covid-19 crisis, most factory production lines have stopped, and construction projects have been suspended, so they have ended up jobless,” he said.

However, with the support of social-media platforms, people’s support for those suffering economically from the crisis has been huge. “We received over LE150,000 within only 36 hours of announcing our appeal, and people are still donating. Current conditions have brought people closer, making them feel more for others,” Al-Tabie said.

The leading NGO Resala has also launched an online campaign called “Donate the Good,” challenging celebrities to financially support as many families as they can for a month during the Covid-19 crisis.

The initiative has been widely taken up among public figures, who have appeared in videos stating their willingness to cover the expenses of a number of families whose breadwinners are casual workers that have lost their sources of income due to the coronavirus pandemic and calling on others to do the same.

According to Resala’s Facebook page, the celebrity campaign has managed to fully sponsor the monthly incomes of over 10,000 families.

The Egyptian Food Bank, another NGO, has announced plans to help the families of casual workers with food and asking people for donations as part of the 500,000 food boxes it is planning to distribute to the workers’ families.

Forty-five per cent of Egypt’s underprivileged people consists of casual workers, according to Heba Al-Leithy, a professor at the Faculty of Economic and Political Science at Cairo University.

Al-Leithy, who has made extensive studies on poverty in Egypt, told the Weekly that this percentage was on the rise as thousands of those who has used to have low-ranking jobs in the private sector were now joining the group. 

“Most of them are already poor, and now we are facing a real challenge in reaching them and supporting them so that they do not fall beneath the poverty line,” Al-Leithy said. 

Having an NGO provide these families with a monthly income is better than a government grant, she added.

“We understand that the government can’t provide more due to the huge financial pressures resulting from the coronavirus, but it can make the NGOs’ jobs easier,” she said, saying that it could shorten the period to connect in-need families with donating bodies through providing lists of families living on the poverty line, for example.

The support of charities and individuals was one way of mitigating the economic effects of the crisis, Al-Leithy said, adding that the different initiatives to help the poor did not only need money, as they were also in need of volunteers to deliver food and money to those in need.

*A version of this article appears in print in the  2 April, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

via english.ahram.org.eg

الاختبار

الاهرام اليومي ٤ ابريل ٢٠٢٠

بقلم عزة رضوان صدقي

 

 إن العالم يمر باختبار شديد، المختَبرون فيه كثيرون. الأمل ألا يتوانى الجميع ويجدوا الحكمة في القرارات ازاء كوفيد ١٩, الي ان يجتاز العالم هذه المحنة االعصيبة

إن كوفيد ١٩ اختبار لكثيرين: الدول والمؤسسات الطبية والعلمية والاقتصاد العالمي والبشر عامة. الدول وقادتها والمعايير التي يتبعونها في امتحان مدى فاعلية أو عدم فاعلية سياساتهم في تحديد بلوغ بر الأمان. ها هي الصين على وشك الخروج من الأزمة، كما تفاعلت سنغافورا واليابان وهونج كونج وتايوان بحكمة شديدة مع الفيروس. هذا بينما تفاقم الموقف في الولايات المتحدة وأوروبا إلى حد التفشي بسبب التراخي أو تأجيل الاختبارات، مع العلم أن منظمة الصحة العالمية حثت جميع البلدان على تعزيز الاختبارات لاحتواء الفيروس. ما هو الأهم: إغلاق الحدود أو إيقاف الرحلات الجوية أو كلاهما؟ إغلاق الحدود بين الولايات المتحدة وكندا من الأمور شديدة الصعوبة، لأن البلدين يعتمدان على بعضهما في الطعام والضروريات. هل يتم التركيز على إعادة تنشيط الاقتصاد كما يتعهد الرئيس ترامب؟ أو إبقاء المواطنين أحياء كما هو متبع في معظم البلاد؟ تساؤلات واختبارات شديدة العواقب، وكل دوله تشرع بالأسلوب الذي تعتبره الأنجح

والأهم كيف تساعد الدول من فقدوا مصدر الرزق من أصحاب الأعمال متوسطة الحجم والصغيرة وكذلك العماله؟ رئيس وزراء كندا أعلن عن مساعدات مالية للأفراد بحوالي ٨٢ بليون دولار، حتى يتسنى لهم شراء الطعام ودفع الإيجار أو أقساط الرهن المنزلي، إذا لم يكن بمقدورهم ذلك. والمتضررون في مصر كثيرون، فالذين يسترزقون رزقا يوميا لا حصر لهم. وقد أعلن وزير القوى العاملة محمد سعفان أن العمالة غير المنتظمة ستحصل على منحة بقيمة ٥٠٠ جنيه

الرعاية الصحية أيضا في مهب الاختبار. ضغوط شديدة تقع على عاتق المسئولين مع كثرة العمل الشاق وفرص التعرُّض للوباء، وعندما لا تتوفر الأسرّة أو الأقنعه أو الاختبارات أو حتى الأطباء. وهل يتضاعف المجهود المبذول مع المسنين الذين يعانون من الأمراض العضال؟ أم يتركون في رعاية الله كما كان الحال في بعض البلاد؟ 

الإنسانية في قيد الاختبار أيضا. في بلاد كثيرة، وبالذات في الغرب، تفشّت الأنانية بين شرائح من البشر وتملّكهم الهلع، فأسرعوا في شراء مؤن قد لا يستهلكونها أبدا تخوُّفا من شح الطعام غير مبالين بالآخرين واحتياجاتهم. كما تملّك الجشع بعض التجار والسماسرة الذين رفعوا أسعار الغذاء والمستلزمات الطبية والمطهرات، أو أخفوا البضائع للبيع لاحقا. أما البعض الآخر فاعتبر نفسه أقوى من الفيروس، فاستمر في مغادرة المنزل ولم يحافظ على المسافات، غير مبالين للعواقب، واستمروا في التقبيل والأحضان وعدم غسل الأيدي. إلا أنه مع انحسار التجمعات وإبقاء المسافات والتزام المنازل إلا للاحتياجات القصوى، بدت المجتمعات كما لو أنها تعيش في شرانق من صنعهم، ولكن مرغم أخاك لا بطل

أما الاقتصاد العالمي فلم يصادفه كارثة مثل هذه من قبل. أزمة ٢٠٠٨ الاقتصادية والأزمة التي أعقبت سبتمبر ٢٠١١ لا يمثلان شيئا بالنسبة لما يحدث الآن. انهيار الاقتصاد العالمي حتمي عندما يتوقف الاستهلاك وتُمنع التجمعات وتُغلق المدارس والمطاعم والمنتديات ويفقد الكثير الكسب ووسائل الإنفاق. لقد ضخت معظم الدول المليارات من أجل مواجهة انهيار اقتصاد بلادهم. من سيصمد أمام هذا التيار الجارف؟ ومن سيخرج فائزا، ومن سيخرج مهزوما؟ وكم هو الوقت الذي يحتاجه العالم ليعود إلى سابق عهده؟

توقف الإعلام عن نشر أي قضايا إلا كوفيد ١٩، محددا ما يستحق المتابعة. أصابنا الإعلام باللامبالاة تجاه جميع البؤر الساخنة الأخرى. تغاضي عن نشر أخبار ليبيا أو سوريا أو أي مناطق متحاربة أخرى. لم يبالِ إذا وقع إعصار أو زلزال في إحدى بقاع الأرض. حتى الحروب التجارية التي كانت على وشك تفكيك العالم أجمعه باتت غير مهمة. المعاناة اليومية التقليدية تبددت والأحلام المستقبلية تأجلت، بل أصبحنا نكرِّس التفكير والتدبير والاحتياط والتركيز على الفيروس. للأسف سوف يستمر الإعلام في التركيز على المثير وعدم إعطاء جميع الموضوعات نفس الأهمية بدون انحياز ولا تفضيل

عند اكتشاف لقاح ضد فيروس الكورونا سيدخل العالم في اختبار آخر. مع ثبوت صغر العالم هل ستتعاون الدول مع بعضها البعض وتوفر اللقاح للجميع؟ أم سيساوم به البعض حتى يتسنى لهم الكسب؟ أكدت وزارة الصحة الألمانية تقريرا قيل فيه إن الرئيس دونالد ترامب عرض مليار دولار على شركة تسمي كيورفاك لشراء الحقوق الحصرية للقاح ضد كوفيد ١٩، وهذه هي أولى القصائد كفرا

إن هذا الفيروس ما هو إلا اختبار مؤلم على جميع قاطني هذا الكوكب، واجتيازه سيكون شديد الصعوبة. سيزول الكابوس في وقت ما، لكن بعد أن يتمكن من تغيير السلوكيات الفردية والدولية. لا نعرف إذا كان الكوكب الجديد الذي سيطل علينا بعد هذا الوباء سيكون مُعدلا ومُحسنا أم سيكون نفس الكوكب بأخطائه وأحزانه ومجازره؟