With an eye to deterring the spread of COVID-19 in Egypt, entry conditions to the country require presenting proof by the person entering, be that Egyptian or non-Egyptian, of having been fully vaccinated at least 14 days beforehand with any of the coronavirus vaccines approved by the WHO or the Egyptian Medicine Authority. Those not holding vaccination certificates must present proof that they are free of coronavirus; they can take any of the tests approved by the Egyptian Health Ministry, including PCR ID NOW and Antigen Rapid Test, 72 hours before landing in Egypt. Children under 12 are exempted of these conditions.
These being the coronavirus regulations for travellers to Egypt, how are matters with other countries around the world?
US Center for Disease Control (CDC) Director, Rochelle Walensky, last December said that basing on scientific studies, the CDC had cut the isolation period for persons infected with COVID-19 down to five days. She said that, after 31 December 2021, there was no need to take a PCR test once the isolation period ended. Ms Walensky said that the CDC was withdrawing the use of PCR testing for COVID-19. The website thegatewaypundit.com posted: “The CDC finally admitted the test does not differentiate between the flu and COVID virus;” thegatewaypundit claimed that this explains the disappearance of flu cases in the US in 2020, also the inflated COVID cases as Dr Fauci and the DC elite knew. Accordingly, the CDC decided as of 1 January 2022 to withdraw the request to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Emergency Use Authorisation of the 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel, which had been in use since February 2020 for detection of SARS-CoV-2. The CDC also provided this advance notice to clinical laboratories, to have adequate time to select and implement one of the many FDA-authorised alternatives.
In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a statement before the House of Commons on 20 January 2022 regarding COVID-19. PM Johnson officially announced that the British government no longer required people to wear face masks; it also lifted social distancing restrictions and work from home regulations. Travellers to the UK would no longer be required to present authenticated vaccination certificates, he said. In short, the UK decided to fully resume normal activity as of Thursday 27 January.
Earlier this month, news circulated on social media regarding the European Union’s drive to consider COVID-19 an endemic rather than a pandemic, like all other endemic diseases including the flu. Simultaneously, it was claimed that some regions in Spain might be the first to lift all COVID-19 cautionary measures if cases slowed down.
On 22 January, Ireland too joined the wave of easing COVID restrictions. Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said in a press conference that Ireland had weathered the Omicron storm. “I have stood here and spoken to you on some very dark days. But today is a good day,” PM Martin said. He explained that according to a report by the national health authority team, the rate of infection was going down, and all the key indicators on which the country based its decisions had stabilised … PM Martin therefore announced that as of 6am the following day, 23 January, the majority of public health restrictions would be removed, and activity would resume normally.
These are the updates I had spotted until I wrote this article. Of course, they may be followed with other updates on what has circulated during the last few months: that 2022 would see the end of COVID-19 restrictions, emergency policies, and lockdown, measures which had been the order of the day in many countries over the last two years. These restrictions have had a negative effect—even detrimental as described by economic experts—on nations and peoples. Does this new tendency to relax COVID restrictions mean that health authorities the world over are reviewing the might of the virus, especially now that vaccine protection has spread? Or is the policy of herd immunity through allowing a margin of infections, now being embraced? Or is the decision to ease restrictions but a gamble in favour of saving economies? Such speculations, whether based on health, political, or social considerations, aim at pulling the world out of the state of inertia and panic that engulfed it. Yet the pivotal issue remains: that of the viability of PCR testing for COVID-19. This issue has had its share of suspicion and criticism during the last year, and warrants detailed discussion which I plan to do in some future Watani issue.
Watani International
28 January 2022