Egyptian embassy's consular section in China to continue providing services

Egypt's foreign ministry on Sunday said the consular section of the Egyptian embassy in China will continue to provide all services for Egyptian businessmen and importers.

Mahmoud Hashem Yasser, Egypt's assistant foreign minister for Consulate Affairs and Egyptian Expats, said that the consular section will continue to offer services of authentication and notarization of relevant documents, invoices, contracts, civil affairs papers and non-commercial certificates in China.

This comes as the World Health Organization regional office for the Eastern Mediterranean on Sunday released a statement saying that the confirmed case of the novel coronavirus in Egypt is asymptomatic and was identified through contact screening of an individual who traveled to Cairo between Jan 21 and Feb 4 on a business trip.

"The confirmed case in Egypt is currently isolated in a referral hospital. Other contacts of the confirmed case are being traced, and so far, all have tested negative, but will be actively followed up on for 14 days. WHO is coordinating with national focal points in China and Egypt in order to support the investigation in Egypt," the statement said.

The first confirmed case of novel coronavirus in Africa was detected in Egypt on Feb 14, according to a joint statement by Egypt's health ministry and the WHO. The statement indicated that the affected person was a foreigner, without giving further details.

According to Khaled Megahed, Egypt's health ministry spokesman, the person tested positive for the virus but had showed no symptoms. Megahed added that the patient had been quarantined in a hospital.

"The ministry has taken preventative measures and is monitoring the patient who is stable," Megahed said.

According to Megahed, the case was detected due to the measures taken by the Egyptian health ministry, which include an electronic program to register and follow up on those who arrived in Egypt from countries experiencing the virus, and through teams that monitor them daily.

The Egyptian Ministry of Health said it had previously established a medical camp with all necessary medical equipment to monitor and detect any possible cases of the virus. The ministry also has assigned a medical team consisting of three doctors and three nurses to travel in planes carrying Egyptians returning from China.

Egypt is one of the first countries to prepare a comprehensive strategy to fight back against the disease's spread. In January, the ministry issued guidelines on dealing with the novel coronavirus viral contagion amid fears of the disease's spread worldwide.