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Here are the latest figures on COVID-19 as of Tuesday, May 12:

After a surge in the number of new COVID-19 cases recorded per day in Egypt at the beginning of May, high profile figures from Egypt and abroad continued to call for a tighter lockdown with immediate effect on Tuesday, highlighting issues in Egypt’s testing strategy, and the worrying strain on the health system. MPs, the World Health Organization and former Doctors Syndicate deputy head Mona Mina were among those who commented, despite a slight dip in the numbers over the past three days
 

• Total lockdown “has become a necessity” as “infections are increasing exponentially” and testing isn’t being run on enough potential cases, said Mona Mina on Tuesday. Mina doubled down this Tuesday on a standpoint expressed by several of Egypt’s high profile health experts this week, saying that locking Egypt down for Eid and the last 10 days of Ramadan would be an effective compromise between public health and the country’s economic needs, citing the annual dip in economic activity during Ramadan and the holiday season.
• “If doctors are crying out for tests and spots in quarantine hospitals, how do things look for normal people?” Mina exclaimed, as signs point to a severe strain on Egypt’s health care system.
• Mina also commented on the shortage of medical staff endemic to Egypt, and aggravated by the pandemic. Several hospitals have been put out of action in May, as doctors and nurses fall ill and their colleagues. self-isolate. Mina notes that the situation is the result of a prolonged decline in working conditions in the health sector. Rather than a “shortage,” what’s happening is that doctors are being “expelled”, she commented, describing a mass exodus of doctors seeking better professional conditions outside Egypt.
• While Mina emphasized tightening lockdown, WHO officials have stressed the need to increase the number of tests. “We are asking Egypt to ramp up its testing since this is one of the most important measures to limit the spread of COVID-19, said Dr. Rana Hajjeh, regional director of program management in the WHO’s East Mediterranean office.
• The WHO’s Dr. Richard Brennan, who is acting regional emergency director in the East Med office spoke in tune with Hajjeh at a Tuesday presser, recommending an increase in testing across the region as “the most important tool to evaluate the epidemiological situation.” 
• A total lockdown is generally “advisable,” yet it is the discretion of each country to evaluate the need for such measures given the “scope of spread” and the “economic and social costs,” said Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO’s Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, answering a question on calls for a total lockdown in Egypt.
• Another comment on inadequate testing procedures came from medical staff at the Qena Chest Hospital, who are threatening to stop taking suspected COVID-19 cases after a spat with Dr. Ramadan al-Khateeb, who works for the health directorate in Qena. In a letter to the Health Ministry published in Cairo24, doctors from the hospital asked the Health Ministry to repeal the directorate’s decision to centralize evaluating and running testing with a committee, depriving staff of the power to make on-the-spot decisions on how to go ahead with cases. Doctors said the decision has led to overcrowding in the hospital and extended waiting times. “If this situation continues, the deputy and his committee are welcome to receive cases directly within the hospital,” says the letter.
• Several MPs have also chimed in with the calls for total lockdown.  Dr. Essam Eddin Maamon, a member of Parliament’s Health Committee added his voice to the chorus, as did Talaat Khalil MP, who spoke from self-isolation after Egypt’s first MP was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Tuesday. Total lockdown “has become inevitable and a necessity… current protective measures cannot stop the spread at this point,” said Khalil.
• Deputy head of Al-Wafd Party’s health committee joined them, once again citing conveniently “low productivity during Ramadan and holidays” anyway.
• In the House of Representatives, it was the shortage in doctors that seized Tuesday’s agenda, with MP Sami al-Mashad, a senior member of Parliament’s Health Committee, calling for solutions in the short and long term. Mashad pointed at the Supreme Council for Universities, accusing it of “rejecting proposals to increase the number of students admitted” to medical schools.
• Others were still harping on the importance of citizens’ awareness, with Ali Badr MP expressing concern about the increase in infections, yet positing that the general public’s behavior was the only changeable factor in the equation. It’s the “only solution,” he said on Tuesday, proposing more extensive “awareness campaigns” in the media, social media and mobile text messaging.
• Both President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and first lady Intisar sent a message to nurses on international nurses day, saluting their “precious sacrifice.”
   

In news of medical staff affected by the virus on Tuesday:

• 223 doctors have been infected with the novel coronavirus, while nine doctors have died thus far, according to the latest count from the Doctors Syndicate. 
• Zahraa Teaching Hospital, affiliated to the Cairo branch of Al-Azhar University, was shut down on Tuesday for sterilization after an outbreak among staff. While Professor Mohamed al-Mahrasawy cited 38 infections among workers at the hospital, a board member from the Doctors Syndicate has told the party-affiliated Darb news website that a staggering 148 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19, almost quadrupling the results from Sunday’s round of testing. 49 of the 148 are doctors, said the syndicate member. 
• Ahmed Maher Teaching Hospital has also taken a blow after 32 staff members tested positive for COVID-19. Hospital director Dr. Ahmed Abdel Aziz announced that 24 nurses, six doctors, and two other workers at the hospital are among those affected. A nurse who part-times at another hospital was reportedly the index case, yet Abdel Aziz could not confirm how she had been infected. All intensive care doctors and the doctors tasked with testing suspected cases have been told to wear “high-efficiency” masks, while “administrative punishment” will be meted out to staff members from other departments found to be using the hospital’s supply of these masks.
   

A torrent of reports on Tuesday also attested to infections and deaths outside the health sector, including the first confirmed case in Egypt’s Parliament:

• The first case of COVID-19 has popped up in Parliament, with news that MP Sherine Farrag has tested positive for the virus emerging Tuesday night.  A disease control team has reportedly visited Parliament and sterilized areas that Farrag had visited during the last few days. After discussing the situation and revisiting the precautions being taken in the House, it has been decided that other MPs will not be tested unless symptoms begin to surface. 12 MPs have self-isolated due to coming into “direct contact” with Farrag, who attended a Budget and Planning Committee meeting on May 4. Parliament’s next general session, scheduled for Sunday, looks set to go ahead regardless. 
• Rasha Helmy, an employee of Egypt’s Radio and Television Union working at the Maspero building HQ, passed away on Tuesday due to COVID-19. While Cairo24 reports that the Media Syndicate published an obituary crediting Helmy as a TV presenter,  the National Media Council has said Helmy was an accountant.  Helmy has reportedly been on paid leave since mid-March and has not visited Maspero since then.
• Head of the cultivating unit in Zamalek Sporting Club Rida Khalil died of COVID-19 complications yesterday, reports Cairo24. Club president Mortada Mansour has reportedly instructed the termination of contracts for all those working at the same unit as Khalil on the grounds that they “concealed his infection” from managers. The Health Ministry asked the club to close on Tuesday to allow a team in for sterilization.
• The Pharmacists Syndicate announced the death of a pharmacist due to COVID-19.
• An employee at a court in Kafr al-Sheikh Court has tested positive for COVID-19.
• An employee at the post office of the Qena village Jarajus has tested positive. The directorate shut down the office for 14 days as a protective measure.