Covid19 in Egypt : exploiting a pandemic to consolidate authority

Abstract

As the Chinese government showcases its success in controlling the pandemic, much media attention has called into question the accuracy of the government-reported official count of coronavirus cases in China. However, beyond the Chinese government’s campaign to downplay the severity of the pandemic in China, the lack of transparency in authoritarian regimes around the world has raised concerns that covering up the actual number of cases can counterproductively hinder efforts to effectively combat the pandemic. In the Middle East, this can be seen in Egypt, where the government has expelled and cracked down on journalists reporting on the pandemic while going so far as to criminalise the questioning of official numbers.