Coronavirus on the Nile : Sham El-Nassim in time of COVID-19

It is that beautiful time of Spring in Egypt, it is Sham El-Nassim.

It is Egypt’s oldest Celebration day that Egyptians have kept celebrating since the time of ancient Egypt till the 21st century.

But this year, it is Coronavirus that have locked down millions and millions of people in their homes in the past three months.

It is probably one of the few Sham El-Nassim Days in the history of our old Nation where people are forced to stay to at home because the government shut down all the parks, shops and beaches till Tuesday morning to curb the public gatherings and thus the spread of Coronavirus.

Egypt has already recorded over 3000 Coronavirus cases including over 200 deaths and over 700 full recovered cases.

Now here is a couple of photos from Cairo and Alexandria showing rare scenes but to be frank it seems that Mother Nature began to restore its health in Egypt too.

Here is Cairo on Sham El-Nassim by Moussa El-Zarif. 

An overview for Zamalek by Moussa El-Zarif 

October bridge between Zamalek and Agouza by Moussa El-Zarif

Here is a couple of Photos from Alexandria and it is an unbelievable scene for the Corniche.

Coronavirus on the Nile : Easter , Sham El-Nassim and Ramadan in week “Live Updated”

Here we are starting another week in the time of Coronavirus in Egypt and the world.
Just as the daily record of Coronavirus infections in Egypt has been increasing in the past three days, we are starting a new week with a new challenge called “Social gathering” for real.

A photo from Bahtim by
Moussa Al-Zarif 

This is the ultimatum week as we are starting it with Orthodox Easter on Sunday, Sham El-Nassim on Monday and then the commence of the Holy Month of Ramadan on Friday.
The Egyptian government made it clear that Egyptians are not going to spend Easter/Sham El-Nassim in parks and on the beaches as well as we usually do. This is our short spring break vacation.
The government is imposing a near-complete curfew on Sunday and Monday.
Ramadan is going to start on Friday, which means that there will be an apocalyptical shopping spree in the Egyptian markets.
A sociable month already, the Egyptian government suspended all kind of activity involving public gatherings in Ramadan including prayers and Ramadan charity banquets.
Hopefully, we will get through those tough days safely.
Here is the Live update from 24 Live. Be safe and stay at home, please.

Egypt’s Palm Sunday in time of Coronavirus

I do not think before that Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church held Palm Sunday without a public audience in its modern history.

The Coptic Orthodox Church live-streamed the mass led by its head, Pope Tawadros II, through its social media accounts and Christian Coptic Orthodox TV channels.

Pope Tawadros II led the mass at Saint Pishoy Monastery in Behaira governorate’s Wadi El-Natroun. Already Egypt’s biggest and oldest Church announced that its pope would hold the rest of the Holy Week’s masses in the monastery in the heart of the desert.

Churches have been closed just like Mosques since Mid-March in order to curb the spread of Coronavirus through public gathers.

Photographer Roger Anis documented one of Cairo’s biggest Church empty during the mass this Sunday and it was a sad scene.

By Roger Anis for Masrawy 

He took this photo at Saint Samaan, the Tanner Monastery in Mokktam.

Many Egyptian Christians expressed their sadness on how they were not allowed to pray in their churches and as Muslim, I feel them. The Mosques are all closed, we do not hear the Adhan and Ramadan will commence at the end of the month.

I totally relate to this sadness but this is for the greater good.

Happy Palm Sunday to all those celebrating on Sunday according to the Orthodox Church and Happy Easter to all those celebrating it as well in the West. 

This time shall pass inshallah. 

Coronavirus on the Nile: At least 33 Positive COVID-19 cases and two fatalities in one family Nile Delta “A Case study”

On Thursday, a young Egyptian man announced that his family got at least 33 Coronavirus cases including himself asking the people to pray for them.

This is the biggest outbreak for COVID-19 in a single-family in Egypt announced so far.

This family is from Bahtim in Nile Delta’s Qalybuia and they live there. Their story could be a case study.

This young man is called Siyad and this is his story which sheds light on several problems in Egypt when it comes to Coronavirus.

According to Siyad, it started with his uncle.

His uncle was misdiagnosed in several hospitals as a patient of acute bronchitis till his condition was deteriorated then he was tested positive for Coronavirus and is sent to hospital after infecting his brothers and his mother.

Siyad’s late Grandmother Mrs Ghali passed away as she was being transferred to the hospital shortly after her test results came positive for the virus. Siyad’s uncle passed right after his mother. It is the first family in Egypt to lose two members like that in one single week because of Coronavirus.

His other uncle and his father started to show symptoms and thus they were sent to the hospital too.

Coronavirus on the Nile: A New Week in Egypt under partial COVID-19 Curfew “Live Updated”

Here is a new Live Updated weekly blog post to cover all things Coronavirus in Egypt, the Arab world and Africa.

It is a new week where Egypt lives under partial Curfew in order to curb the spread of Coronavirus.

We have not reached the peak of the Coronavirus yet according to official statements but last week we had a jump in the cases as we have crossed the 1000 patients milestone and we started having officially 

By Roger Anis for Masrawy 

Last week, Egypt witnessed an increase in both the death toll and the total number of full recovered patients at the same time. 

Last week also the Egyptian government announced it was taking part in the global testing of Coronavirus medicines.

It is a huge challenge.

The Egyptian government seems to be sending mixed messages with its calls for workers to return back to factories so the economy won’t be affected while it is calling people to stay at houses as much as they can for safety.

It is like playing in the fire especially it seems that some people are fed up and do not give a damn for the warnings when it comes to social distancing.

There is another challenge represented in the increasing number of members of medical staff from all over Egypt getting infected.

Hopefully, this week won't’ be bad one inshallah.

The live update is below.

50 years on Israel’s War Crime in Bahr el Baqar : Never forget

Wednesday 8 April 2020 marked the 50 anniversary of the Bahr el-Baqar school massacre.

In case you do not know what it is then let me tell you what happened 50 years ago.

On 8 April 1970, Israeli Air Forces bombed a Primary school in a small Sharkia governorate village called Bahr El-Baqar aka “Cows’ Sea” killing 46 Children and injuring over 50 others.

An IAF Phantom Fighter struck the single-floored three classrooms school at 9:20 am with five bombs and two air-to-ground missiles as part of its response to the war of attrition launched by Egypt.

There were 150 children in that poor school then.

From Ahram's archives, the shoes of the students at Bahr
El-Baquar school 
Colourized by Abdel Latif El-Tahan "My Heritage"

Interestingly, all the targets of Egypt during the war of attrition were military and never reached that civilian depth. 

Israeli officials said that they thought it was a military building and their war criminal defence minister then Moshe Dayan claimed that maybe the Nasser regime planted a school inside a military base !!

Coronavirus on the Nile : A new week with a huge challenge "Live updated"

It is the start of a new week in Egypt in the time of the Coronavirus and somehow it started with a huge challenge as the total number of Coronavirus patients is closer than ever to become 1000. The government has warned before that the situation can be difficult if we passed the 1000 patients. 

It is a huge challenge because the same government seems okay with the return of workers in factories and construction projects for the sake of the economy.

Sensitizing the Great Pyramid of Giza's Guards booth
"Neriman El-Mofty for AP"

According to the Housing ministry's spokesperson on Thursday that "4 Million Construction workers will return to construction sites and projects on Saturday " !! 

It is another week with another live update event in an attempt to gather important news, reports and numbers.