Dr. Hossam Badrawi Official Website
Young people gathered around me on the Zoom application, to continue talking and dialogue remotely using digital technologies.
One of them said: Doctor, by what means will we eliminate the spread of the new Corona virus in Egypt, and what model will we follow?
I said: There are different models that the countries of the world have adopted in the face of the epidemic, and the important thing is that we follow a model to its end and not jump between one model and another, so we do not reach a result despite the suffering of the people.
He said: What are these models?
I said:
The first: the absolute closure and strict isolation of any area where the epidemic appears in a timely manner and in a race with the spread,
This is the Chinese model..it requires rigor in implementation and commitment from the people..and they succeeded in that. Some countries closed their borders “from Badra” and prevented flights, such as Singapore.
The second is the Korean model, which is testing the entire population in the laboratory and isolating patients, which is what Germany has also taken.
The third is the British model that it started with and then retreated, which is letting people get sick with the expectation of deaths for the elderly and bear their loss, in order that the majority of young people take immunity against the virus and the economy continues to grow (herd immunity). Semi-elective isolation, and I think they are in a crisis now..
The fourth of them is the Italian model, which was late in everything and was preceded by the spread of the virus and did not have sufficient testing means, and the capacity of the health system could not bear the number of cases, so the situation worsened and worsened, and the numbers doubled every four days.
The fifth of them is the model of the United States, whose president mocked the epidemic at first and was preoccupied with accusing others, then returned to resist politically, and there is, as far as I know from my colleagues in New York, a tragedy because it is the strongest country in the world militarily and economically and appears in a dire state in terms of providing respirators and intensive care beds in the most important Two states, California and New York.
A young woman known for her left said: The American president appeared the day before yesterday to warn that people should not stay out of work because the recession’s effects are greater than the complications of the epidemic or the death of some elderly people.. From my point of view, the American president showed the worst face of blind material capitalism that puts money before life and the economy before human.
Another said: In all cases, we do not hear much about third world countries, except for Iran, India and Egypt
And a little bit about Northern Europe.
An inquisitive young woman said:
I think the whole idea is to use predictive science and impose precautionary solutions before spreading. As for the tests, they require capabilities and logistics that we may not have.
Her colleague said:
Treatment also needs the capacity of the health system, training of staff, and availability of equipment.
As for the future, it needs continuous awareness and the use of the educational and media system in this without relentlessness or laziness.
We may come out of this ordeal with some benefits.
Another young man said:
Yesterday I was watching the movie Contigias, and before that the movie Pandemic in My Solitude, films that indicate that expectations exist, and that the response of governments is absent.
In military matters, we hear about joint exercises between armies that cost millions of dollars, but have you heard of exercises to face health battles? America spends more on weapons research and on one plane than the whole world spends on health research.
His colleague said: We are in Egypt, what do we do in this crisis now?
Tell me the name of a statistician, virologist, epidemiologist, and public health expert, or the names of research projects that appeared in the media, or experts standing behind the prime minister or minister of health when talking about the crisis.
Dozens of research centers, universities and thousands of scholars, and we have not seen scientific institutional comments that give us a glimpse that we are the Egypt that we have in mind, the big and strong Egypt.
Another young man commented sarcastically: All that is before us is news in newspapers and social media about fake inventions, religious treatments, and stupid, idiot demonstrations that beg God and pray against the virus with ridiculous justifications about the scourge and medicine that will come to us from heaven without strict isolation measures, scientific research, and clinical experiments. And clear logistics in what should a citizen do when he suspects an injury, or if he is proven to be infected?
I told him: O my son, the greater the ignorance people turn to the unseen, and the greater the fear, there is no objection to supplication, and consider it, my master, as a positive collective energy.
Of course, the form that took place in the Alexandria demonstration is unacceptable, and I imagine that it has political goals behind it.
Another young man said: I will read to you some headlines whose credibility I doubt, but they demonstrate our lack of seriousness.
Production of Egyptian anti-viral faxes (not real)
“Member of the Parliament’s Education Committee: Egyptian medicines succeed in treating an infected person.. and a scientific committee sets a treatment protocol to address the epidemic” (unreal).
“Egypt has agreed to participate in conducting clinical tests to evaluate drugs used to treat the emerging corona virus” (Egypt does not have a law that basically allows clinical trials).
I told them: Do not be a source of frustration and negative energy.. There are mistakes, but there are also successes. There are achievements that the state must publish with credibility, because a single false news discredits anything after it.
I return to the theory of the American president, which you described as transgressing human values and prioritizing the economy over human life.
I do not appreciate Mr. Trump or his policies, but we have to discuss his vision when the wheel of the economy will return to work, make calculations, evaluate statistics and analyze them. He is the President of the United States of America and preceded by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and they do not speak from a vacuum, but behind them are think tanks and experts.
What if the closure continued for six months, and exports and imports stopped, buying and selling stopped, and the wheel of contracting and infrastructure projects stopped… Where will the state and the private sector find employee salaries?… And how will Egypt bear this pressure, with the possibilities of shaking stability from forces waiting for these moments.
I hope that there will be research centers that study, develop scenarios, and solutions a
What is the decision-makers in Egypt, as is happening in the world?
I am not talking about Egypt after Corona, I am talking about Egypt during Corona if the closure continues and the economy stops.
Education has solutions, and the ordeal has produced respectable models for distance learning and the use of digital technologies, and health is now in a confrontation…but investment, development, employment and work to increase the state’s resources are slowing down, and it may stop, and their sources are known… taxes that society will not bear while it is in a state of depression, And stopped tourism, and the movement of trade through the Suez Canal is slow, and remittances from Egyptians abroad may decrease or stop, and the possibilities of increasing unemployment and lack of employment.
I am thinking and I do not have solutions, but I follow what is happening in the world and I expect that in Egypt there are devices and research centers that must do so now.
